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yesterday i hammered (pounded, drilled, banged, and pummeled) seven pages of Book Two of From Slaughter's Mountain.
i've managed to get the regiment back to camp harrelson and i've managed to get jenkins and peterson killed, so it's off to a strong start. (i realized though that peterson has no first name ~ he never had one in Book One and to my recollection i've never given him one. i keep wanting to call him william peterson, but isn't that an actor? regardless, he's just "peterson" in Book One, so i'm going to stick with that.)
i'm hosting and moderating a summer writing workshop and decided it was a good time to get motivated to write, and wow, i had no idea trying to get back into first person voice would be so exhausting. i thought that because the characters are so familiar it would be a piece of cake, but it's been six years since i wrote Book One and remembering the nuances of the various southern dialects has been like having to learn them all over again.
so i wrote seven pages of very drafty material (one monologue from each character). they aren't brilliant, but i'm pleased that it's a start in what seems like the right direction. it took me 10 years of draft after draft, research, and all manner of style overhaul to write the first book. i'd like to write the second one in 10 months if possible. it's going to continue to be a challenge, but i feel in a good place to take it on.
i feel much more confident with the material now than i did when i first began and was randomly making stuff up (wow, some of my initial errors are just hilariously bad). but i feel like i have all the necessary materials to do historic justice (or at least not offend), i feel like i have the structure and style in a relatively good place (one persnickety character is still a bit of a wobbly leg on the tripod, but he's coming along slowly).
on the research front, i found a 1860 model Navy Colt .44 ~ can't seem to find a .45 prior to the 1870s (and those are army revolvers). i guess a .44 will do, it just doesn't sound as cool. the 1850s models seemed to have been mostly .36s, so it'll have to be a newer gun than i had originally intended ~ think it was a '52 or a '58 originally, but i can't be certain. i want it to be a big gun ~ the .44 weighs more than 2 lbs., that's good. Book One just calls it a Navy Colt anyway, so clearly i never did committ to the details, probably because of lack of research. now that the gun is more important, i need to make sure i pick the right one.
i'm anxious to see the reaction from the group tonight ~ this ought to be innerestin'.
: D
i've managed to get the regiment back to camp harrelson and i've managed to get jenkins and peterson killed, so it's off to a strong start. (i realized though that peterson has no first name ~ he never had one in Book One and to my recollection i've never given him one. i keep wanting to call him william peterson, but isn't that an actor? regardless, he's just "peterson" in Book One, so i'm going to stick with that.)
i'm hosting and moderating a summer writing workshop and decided it was a good time to get motivated to write, and wow, i had no idea trying to get back into first person voice would be so exhausting. i thought that because the characters are so familiar it would be a piece of cake, but it's been six years since i wrote Book One and remembering the nuances of the various southern dialects has been like having to learn them all over again.
so i wrote seven pages of very drafty material (one monologue from each character). they aren't brilliant, but i'm pleased that it's a start in what seems like the right direction. it took me 10 years of draft after draft, research, and all manner of style overhaul to write the first book. i'd like to write the second one in 10 months if possible. it's going to continue to be a challenge, but i feel in a good place to take it on.
i feel much more confident with the material now than i did when i first began and was randomly making stuff up (wow, some of my initial errors are just hilariously bad). but i feel like i have all the necessary materials to do historic justice (or at least not offend), i feel like i have the structure and style in a relatively good place (one persnickety character is still a bit of a wobbly leg on the tripod, but he's coming along slowly).
on the research front, i found a 1860 model Navy Colt .44 ~ can't seem to find a .45 prior to the 1870s (and those are army revolvers). i guess a .44 will do, it just doesn't sound as cool. the 1850s models seemed to have been mostly .36s, so it'll have to be a newer gun than i had originally intended ~ think it was a '52 or a '58 originally, but i can't be certain. i want it to be a big gun ~ the .44 weighs more than 2 lbs., that's good. Book One just calls it a Navy Colt anyway, so clearly i never did committ to the details, probably because of lack of research. now that the gun is more important, i need to make sure i pick the right one.
i'm anxious to see the reaction from the group tonight ~ this ought to be innerestin'.
: D
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