More NaNo

[altivo]

NaNo progress: 13,366 words
Another chapter now online here.

Never got above freezing today. The high was 31.5 F. ;p

Comments

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Heyheyhey, catching up with the work-in-progress. Something to check in the first chapter: you say Fennec is the senior assistant (and hence gets priority for holidays) while he's by the river, but by the time he's talking to Sulo, Sulo is senior. Does Westvale really have that strict a penalty for long lunch breaks? ;)

Looking forward to reading subsequent chappities soon.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the catch. That's the way it goes with NaNo, you are supposed to write and not revise. I'd have caught it eventually, but I'd missed that. I'll fix it soon as I can. Yeah, he's better off as junior assistant at this point.

There's a discrepancy in timeline too. In last year's book I dated these events to 38 years prior, but that's too long so they will end up as about 30 or 29 years. Note that I've got the bracelet tie-in, though. I really like that bit.

I'm liking Mazer a lot (of course, knew I would) and I may just have to write about her or Uncle Sato in some detail eventually.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

I read up to the end of chapter 3 this morning. (Weaving porn, yay!)

And in case you want to make a note of little ticks to squash: "the fox said nothing of the cost, but Argos had suspicious"

And² I'm glad the unhunger side effect of my diet has kicked in, or I'd have been drooling at all the food descriptions. ;)

Random thought: it's a very notable aspect of your writing style that everyone's nice. Even the villains were courteous in your last year's NaNo. Have I mentioned that that inspired my "Mews" (the novel I wrote for my brother) to be that way too?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Bug squashed. Actually there were two typos in that paragraph. It's "Hikaran" rather than "Hakaran" (the name of the nation/people who made Argos' bracelet as well as the style of cooking he was sampling there.) Got 'em both fixed now.

I'm honored that you found my writing style inspiring enough to borrow from it. You know, they say we should write the things with which we are familiar. And in 58 years of living, I have yet to see/meet/encounter anyone who was truly evil or even wicked. Oh, a lot of them are misguided or twisted by bad experiences and narrow viewpoints. But genuine malice must be very rare and is probably a symptom of serious derangement in my opinion. The worst criminals in human society are no more evil than wolves or sharks are evil. They are doing what life and instinct has led them to do. It's all part of the great tapestry, if you will.

You like the weaving pr0n? I need it to set the scene and elaborate on Argos' inner nature, which is Buddhist contemplative. But I'm always afraid readers will be totally bored by it. This story also has sailing pr0n, hope you enjoy that as well.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Argos certainly comes across as absorbed in his work, and for its own sake, rather than ambition.

I've done very little sailing myself, but I was roleplaying the Water Rat at about age two, so... ;) Besides, I like a good educational read.

I try to write without designated villains myself. Antagonists are another matter; I think of those as opposing the protag because of circumstance rather than spite. The things people find important can spur them to acts of great good and great evil, sometimes in the same person, and I find that idea more interesting than an eyepatched British villain who wants to destroy humanity because of his Dead Little Sister. (Naturally, as a younger pup I was as guilty as anyone of writing the latter.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, you've got it. Argos has no ambitions (other than maybe to be closer to Fennec) but he is driven to create. Everything he does that might represent ambition to some people is merely out of the need to insure his ability to keep creating. So he will achieve his craft master status, and acquire Mazer's house, and later agree to lead the market council, not for personal gain but to keep the channels for creativity open.

My writing is contrary to the frequent insistence that the protagonist must grow and change as a result of the events in the story. Argos changes very little, but he changes those around him by being a catalyst, rather than an active force. I think it's all very Buddhist, and quite valid, but many readers and editors accustomed to western writing object to it.

Interesting that you should mention Kenneth Grahame's characters. They are major influences in my own perception and writing, I think. I try not to create a world as lopsided and incomplete as what Grahame showed us, but many of the idyllic images and intense feelings that his scenes present are key to my own ideals.