Flashbacks are a troubling and wonderful thing. They can provide essential insight into a character’s personality or motivations. They can develop dramatic tension by making the reader privy to events in that past the character isn’t aware of. They can set up thematic fulfillment with scene changes.
They can also be confusing, or a crutch for weak characterization or plotting. They can mess up the flow of a story, throw off pacing, and stick out like a sore thumb.
A lot of people have ideas for novels. A lot of them are good, creative, or have something poignant to say. But actually putting those ideas on the page is an entirely different animal from just coming up with premises. There are a whole host of things to consider before creating your new story on the pages of a novel. Continue reading
Happy (late) Thanksgiving, everyone! It’s a bit of a wake-up call to many of us writers, as it means that we only have a few days left of NaNoWriMo. And so, with the end in sight, I come to you with another update.
And it’s kind of depressing.
At this point, there’s no way I’m going to hit my 90,000 word goal. Between my late start, continuity struggles, and some hefty writer’s block last week, I am just too far behind.*
*But! I will definitely be hitting the 50,000 word mark, at least. I will be done with a significant chunk of the book, including all of Harael’s POVs and most of Tymun’s. All that’s left to do is finish off the climax for Tymun and then move on to Eritan’s stuff, which is the smallest of the three characters’ POVs. As a little bit of a celebration, I am going to relent and post another Harael chapter at the end of the month. It’s pretty crazy, and really kicks off the action for his storyline. Keep an eye out!
The fog was finally beginning to thin out when they crested the ridge and looked down into a long, narrow valley. Harael could see a small lake, nestled against a sheer cliff along the east side. The village itself stretched along most of the length of the valley, hugging the shore of the lake for much of its breadth. As they made their way down the trail, winding back and forth against the slope, their view became clearer and clearer.
By the time they reached the bottom, Harael couldn’t help but stare: the valley was mostly brown, of course, but the winter couldn’t fully grasp the pines coating the far slope. Tall and oddly angular, they gave the area a sort of green fur unlike anything he was used to in Letaal—or even in his hometown of Arbor, many miles north of the capitol. The peaks, rising high ahead, were crowned with white. Continue reading
A brief note before the chapter: this will be the second to last Harael chapter posted on here, at least until the book is finished. Things are getting to a point where I don’t want to give away too much as the plot gets going. I might move on to posting a few Tymun chapters after a week or two, though.
It was late in the morning when Harael, Teramus, and their accompanying Guards and soldiers made their way through the Three Gates. Katreina and two of her own Phoenix Guards rode along with them. Harael was glad for the extra hours of sleep, especially considering how draining the clash had been the night before. He wasn’t used to the things demanded of him, and he had had unsettling dreams.
The sun was overhead, though, and only a few small white puffs of clouds marred the otherwise clear sky. It was unseasonably warm. He managed a smile, breathing in the crisp air—until they came out of the Second Gate and into the killing field from the night before. Then, his breath caught and his attempts to inhale were rewarded by the acrid stench of smoke and char. Continue reading
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