Samhain                                                           Winter Moon

Started using Dramatica this morning, entering characters, thinking about plot progression and story points.  It forced me into a new way of considering the task of writing a novel, something I want.  If you’re not pushing, you’re going backwards.

It also intimidates me.  My confidence level is never at its highest with writing, but I decided a while back to stick with it, keep on typing.  With Missing I focused on revision.

With Loki’s Children I plan to focus on the craft, creating interesting characters who do things you want to follow and taking the story to a satisfying conclusion.  I’ve considered those things before, of course, they’re basic, but I’ve never given them attention before writing.  I always dove right in.

The new novel feeling for me is like standing on a path that leads into a distant land, a place mostly invisible, over the horizon and writing moves me along the path, opening up new vistas, new experiences as I go.  It’s a lot like travel, maybe exactly like it.  I leave home, familiar territory, behind and go off to see how they do things far away.  And I report back about what I find.

Spent more time with Lycaon this morning, too.  Here’s a snippet, still requires some work, but it shows the heart of Lycaon’s crime.  It’s Jupiter who is speaking:

He had planned to destroy me,

225 weighted with sleep and not expecting dark death.

226 He is not yet measured against my strength: one of the race of Molossa

227 Was put to death for an ambush, his throat opened by a sword.

228 A portion of him softens, half-dead joints in

229 Boiling water, another portion roasted by placing under the fire.