Saturday, April 9, 2011

Editing and borrowing

Finally got done with the really pretty difficult Library Scene today.  It's been my bane for nearly a week, mostly due to my inability to really spend time thinking it through.  In my first draft I'd parked Crystal and the girls on the roof and had Matt go down and in a few minutes return with a few dozen library workers and patrons.  Reading it to Heide, though, made it clear that it needed more...this was an excellent opportunity to show Crystal's humanity as well as go into some of the story of the people there. 

So...I set out to rewrite that part, having Crystal float down with Matt to talk the library residents into returning to the estate.  It proved tougher than I'd thought.  I had to determine exactly who was down there, for one thing, as well as how they'd react to seeing two people levitating down and then saying, "Hey, trust us, and go with us back to our estate." 

But I finished...yay!  And then I went into the bar scene, which though it didn't need major rewrite did call for some beefing up.  I, frankly, really like my bar scene, and now that I've spent a few hours on it, I really like it even more. 

I did, however, borrow from a previous work.  I tried to do it subtly, more as an "in honor of" than a copyright violation.  My barkeep, though, is Irish, and floats in a crosslegged position, and his first name is Mike.  If anybody thinks "Callahan!" when reading, then I've done my job.  I loved Spider Robinson's books on Callahan's bar, and this is my way of tipping my hat to him. 

So...late night after a long day of writing, and it's time for bed.  G'night, and more to come tomorrow!

Word count: 74,019

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