New Book is at 170 manuscript pages, 34, 280 words, and the plot is thickening.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m limited in time for it right now, as the legally required reports must be done by their deadlines, but the book needs a daily or almost daily infusion of time and thought and energy…so while it’s not moving *fast* right now, it’s staying alive and making it clear that it IS a book, however it sometimes seems to a writer who’s feeling her way back to competence.\u00a0 When I give it more time, it picks up the pace.<\/p>\n
I’m sure a psychiatrist would have things to say about my insistence that stories\/books have a “life” of their own, and exhibit some kind of will, or agency, or desire to be, or not be, written.\u00a0 But how many of them have ever written fiction?\u00a0\u00a0 I’m a firm believer that writers know more about the writing process than the theorists who’ve never actually produced a creative work.\u00a0 Sheila Finch (excellent writer, if you haven’t read her) told me about being in a seminar in which she, the writer, was told she was utterly wrong about what she said, and the non-writer explaining creativity was the one who really understood the process.\u00a0 We both agreed he was an arrogant bundle of [redacted.]<\/p>\n
So what IS going on?\u00a0 It’s still acting like a cross between a family saga sort of thing and a mystery sort of thing, with political and military flavors wandering through.\u00a0 We have the Vatta family on Slotter Key, the main bunch–Stella, Ky, and Helen (Stella’s mother and the youngest daughter of the Stamarkos family…a very poisonous bunch, so far.)\u00a0 Rafe’s there.\u00a0 So are some of the survivors from\u00a0 Miksland.\u00a0 And the young twins, Shar and Justin, who are now about 12.\u00a0\u00a0 These two are now more differentiated, as you’d expect, but still very close.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the differentiation goes back to the day they were attacked (about age 4) .\u00a0 Justin’s pony was shot, and he fell off; he saw and heard his pony squeal, and then die.\u00a0\u00a0 Shar, carried a hundred or so meters down the pasture when her pony bolted, fell off when it bucked; Grace Vatta got to her, but then Grace was shot, her arm almost severed, and Mac cut the bit of skin holding it on.\u00a0 Shar witnessed that.\u00a0 Two traumatic events, and each child had a different first-hand memory.\u00a0\u00a0 Helen thought the twins were so young these memories would fade on their own–and for reasons out of her own past, did not seek cousnseling; therapy for them.\u00a0 Now, eight years later, it’s clear those memories are still strong and affecting the twins, influencing attitudes and motivations.\u00a0 And being with Ky,\u00a0 the lightning rod of the family currently, they’re experiencing more excitement than Helen allowed them for eight years.<\/p>\n
Snippet:\u00a0 Ky talking to an Admiral she knows in Slotter Key’s “Sea Force,” and asks why she left the Academy Graduation in a hurry and missed most of her Retirement Reception.
\n………………………………………………………………………………………………………<\/p>\n
“A family matter,” Ky said.\u00a0 “My two young cousins went AWOL from their guardian to come to graduation–they had invitations, but their grandmother hadn’t wanted them to come.\u00a0 I spotted them in the audience, and knew an explosion would result, so I wanted to get to their guardian before things got out of hand.”<\/p>\n
“How’d they get in?”<\/p>\n
“Innate sneakiness and collusion with a couple of senior NCOs,” Ky said.\u00a0 “Apparently the NCOs thought it was sweet of them–they didn’t know them yet–and helped the plot come off.”<\/p>\n
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….<\/p>\n
Only part of that is true.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But the twins did circumvent their grandmother’s and aunt’s decision that they should not attend.\u00a0 I may revise it so that the statement is wholly true.\u00a0 We’ll see.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Book is at 170 manuscript pages, 34, 280 words, and the plot is thickening.\u00a0\u00a0 I’m limited in time for it right now, as the legally required reports must be done by their deadlines, but the book needs a daily or almost daily infusion of time and thought and energy…so while it’s not moving *fast* Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,28,10,5],"tags":[20,31,7,21],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-background","category-snippet","category-the-writing-life","category-vatta","tag-characters","tag-snippet","tag-the-writing-life","tag-vatta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":508,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions\/508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/elizabethmoon.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}