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The day's ramble.
Apr. 30th, 2011 11:08 amHad a 48-hour creative dry spell, and finally pushed past it last night. It used to be that I wrote maybe 1 day in 5 (though my wordcount on those days was higher than a single day's wordcount now). Now, I have written my quota all but 12 days this year, and I believe this was the first time two failure days were strung back-to-back. It felt distressing and unnatural not to write, which was, in its own way, perversely satisfying -- I have successfully rewired my brain so that writing is the default. I like that.
Anyway, got a little bit done on Chapter Fourteen of Hellion Prince while still pondering the editing of 13. Mostly, though, my wordcount last night was on A Stain Upon His Hands, the sequel to Running In Her Veins. Still stuck simultaneously in Chapters Two & Three, but I skipped ahead and wrote introductory pieces for a few of the characters who will be expanding the main cast. I don't have a very good grip on who they are yet as people, only who they are as plot devices, so that was work that needed to be done.
I will say that it is a tricky business to write about a genderqueer character before settling on a pronoun. Think I managed it for the few-paragraph stretch, however, and not long after that the character will state a preference and get the pronoun they want from there onward.
I also need to be sure, as I continue writing ASUHH, that I show one of the supporting cast as being in a happy, stable, committed gay relationship. So far in the series I have a bisexual man who prefers women, a villainous homosexual man, and a celibate genderqueer character, and if I don't pay attention to what I am doing there's a very real chance it could wind up portraying homosexuality and transgender issues in a transgressive, exoticized, or even negative way, which is exactly the opposite of what I want to do. Running In Her Veins had a small cast, but even so, I felt it was far too homogenous, at odds with the world I was trying to build around the story. I just need to be conscious that as I cover more ground, I have to pay more attention or risk hurting people with false or shallow portrayals. I can do better than that.
Anyway, got a little bit done on Chapter Fourteen of Hellion Prince while still pondering the editing of 13. Mostly, though, my wordcount last night was on A Stain Upon His Hands, the sequel to Running In Her Veins. Still stuck simultaneously in Chapters Two & Three, but I skipped ahead and wrote introductory pieces for a few of the characters who will be expanding the main cast. I don't have a very good grip on who they are yet as people, only who they are as plot devices, so that was work that needed to be done.
I will say that it is a tricky business to write about a genderqueer character before settling on a pronoun. Think I managed it for the few-paragraph stretch, however, and not long after that the character will state a preference and get the pronoun they want from there onward.
I also need to be sure, as I continue writing ASUHH, that I show one of the supporting cast as being in a happy, stable, committed gay relationship. So far in the series I have a bisexual man who prefers women, a villainous homosexual man, and a celibate genderqueer character, and if I don't pay attention to what I am doing there's a very real chance it could wind up portraying homosexuality and transgender issues in a transgressive, exoticized, or even negative way, which is exactly the opposite of what I want to do. Running In Her Veins had a small cast, but even so, I felt it was far too homogenous, at odds with the world I was trying to build around the story. I just need to be conscious that as I cover more ground, I have to pay more attention or risk hurting people with false or shallow portrayals. I can do better than that.
