The End is Near!
“A man paces up and down the street, a wild and desperate look in his eyes and a wooden sign strapped to his chest proclaiming: ‘The End Is Near!’” That’s not a quote from my book, but that’s what I think of when I look at my word count and my calendar (I always think that word needs to “L”s in it). The end of the month is near, and the end of my goal is near, but to continue the little scene: “A little girl, prim and proper in her lacy pink dress, walks up to the man, tugs on his greasy robes and looks up at him with large brown eyes. He stoops down curious what such a small child would have to say. She opens her mouth and shyly states, ”But the end is not near. There is still a lot more of the story to tell.“ I know for certain I will not complete my book for quite some time, but I think I might actually reach the 50,000 word mark. I will reach 42,000 words before I go to sleep tonight, and while I doubt I will finish the book tomorrow, I ought to be able to get it done before the final deadline.
Characters
Oddly, my main character, Jory, is turning out to be more of an inquisitive three year old than a young man in his early twenties. I’m getting concerned that he is asking too many obvious, or simple, or just plain too many questions. It’s as if I have designated him the tool by which I can explain how things work and function in the world without having to resort to narration. I like having characters explain the world so much more than simply narrating it. In some way it feels like I’m cheating when I just tell people how things work. In the real world we don’t have the luxury of knowing all the ins and outs of a group of people unless we are a part of that group, so why should I tell my audience all about that group when none of my characters know anything about it? Where’s the adventure, the suspense, the discovery, when a known villain challenges an unsuspecting hero? (Okay, so that sounded just pitiful. I’m trying to get to 50,000 words and I’m spending my time debating modes of conversation and writing tips.)
One thing I am rather anxious to find out is how the women characters will develop in the story and which one Jory would be more likely to ”hook up“ with. I want to have a bit of a romantic struggle in the story, and I had planned on Jory falling for the second woman, but it’s almost looking like he’ll have to fall for the first, given the way I have developed each of the personalities, and how they have already interacted. All of this makes me now understand what Tolkien, Lewis, and other authors have said regarding characters having a mind and a will all their own. It still sounds creepy, but I know what they mean more than I ever did before.