Writing update

I’ve finished the rewrites on the prologue and chapter one so far. I’ve changed the one character’s back story, as well as his characterization, quite a bit from the first draft. I knew that I would need to. He didn’t really make himself known to me until much later in the novel, where he stood up and said, “Hey! This is who I am!”

A long time ago I did a character thing where I used one word to describe each character, things like “responsible,” “dishonest,” “curious,” etc. I didn’t figure out this character’s one word until this morning. I believe it’s “dutiful.” This isn’t necessarily how he would describe himself at all in the first novel — though he is dutiful, and he does do what his father, the king, requests of him, though he’s resentful of it. I don’t think he becomes aware of how duty bound he is until the third novel, when he discovers that he’ll do anything, make any sacrifice, to do what he considers is his duty to the land and its people, to make things right. It’s a long hard road to dutiful. But that’s where he ends up.

So far, I’ve added 414 words to the total word count, while at the same time, cutting a lot of excess. As part of my preparation for this rewrite I went ahead and re-read Ken Rand’s 10% solution. I’m not yet to the stage of applying it wholesale, but I am aware of certain things while I’m doing this rewrite — for example, my love of words ending with -ly. As well as my habit of describing things twice. Total word count is now 94116.

Tomorrow — moving on to chapter two. Right now — time to either go for a walk or hit the gym.