Hello, Internet!
Let’s get to it, shall we?
Writing
I’ve been… middling productive, this week. I honestly haven’t spent much time working on Rule (or any other piece, for that matter), and this upcoming week I’ll be out of town for about 4 days, so it’s unlikely that I’ll be productive.
Now, the good news is that I think I’ve figured out a pretty major change which will improve my book! There’s a large battle about 60-75% of the way through Rule, which begins a siege of Steelseat, the city which makes up the main setting of the novel. I’m going to move that battle up, to pretty much right at the spot I’m working on.
This ought to increase the sense of urgency throughout the book. Ajax – my main character – is conscripted at the turning point/OH S*IT moment, but as I’ve been trying to revise the book I’ve noticed that the danger is always coming. So, I’m going to make it here!
I’d like to get some work done on revising the next chapter of Rule this upcoming week. I’m going to be realistic – I won’t finish this chapter. But plot-wise, the next chapter doesn’t need many changes (and it’s right after this next bit that I’ll be splicing the battle in). I’d also like to at least get some thoughts sketched out for a book review.
It feels nice to have half a plan.
Reading
Percy Jackson arrived last night, so I’ve not had a chance to tackle them yet. I’m a mix of eager and apprehensive – I’m fairly good at shutting off the Classicist part of my brain (Hellooooo Disney’s Hercules), but I am hoping that Riordan’s stories will be worthy spiritual successors.
I read The Dragon’s Legacy by Deborah Wolf last week. It was one of two impulse purchases at a Barnes & Noble (neither of which I regret). I love the convenience of Amazon for buying books, but you really can’t beat a bookstore for browsing.
The book was interesting. I’d cautiously recommend it to readers of fantasy (although I’ll hold off fuller comments, since I’ve discovered that Strange Horizons takes unsolicited review submissions). Very florid, but somewhat difficult to follow.
The other book I impulse-purchased was E.R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros.
I think I’m in love.
It’s written in this old Elizabethan/Jacobean prose full of thou and thee, and occasionally includes segments with old (inconsistent) spellings – the book was actually published in 1922 – but is just wonderful. It’s this great monster of a hero-story and I’m loving every chapter. I’ll probably finish reading this in the upcoming week.
In Review:
Last Week: Develop a plan for tackling The Rule of Iron‘s revisions, and begin Percy Jackson. Moderately completed; books arrived, and inklings of a plan showed up.
This Week: Begin edits in preparation for moving the first battle scene, and finish The Worm Ouroboros (and possibly work on a review of The Dragon’s Legacy, too).
Akhelas 