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I finished chapter 13 in two weeks, not the required one. (Though one of the weeks involved going to Seattle for the one-day Gay Romance Northwest conference, so I suppose I can use that as an excuse.)
Part of my writing process (as I've mentioned at some point before) is to toss in all manner of background details as scenery--minor characters, past interactions, etc.--and then later discover that they will be essential to my plot. This has a tendency to gradually increase the complexity of the book (and of the series overall) but in general seems to work for me.
In Mother of Souls, for the first time, I've started thinking that some of these details may need to get pruned in revisions. Conversely, I have a sneaking suspicion that the first revision pass will include a lot of layering in of references to minor character and subplots that aren't currently getting enough page-time to remind the reader of why they're important. But until I have the whole draft finished, I'm not sure I'll know which of these any particular scene belongs to.
In Chapter 13, Luzie and Serafina and two of Luzie's other boarders go off to enjoy a bit of Carnival (in part, because it's a useful way of reminding the reader where we are in the passage of time). While there, they bump into Celeste, the dressmaker's daughter, whom Serafina has befriended somewhat and who will be a significant secondary character in Floodtide. The interaction doesn't necessarily serve any plot purpose except to confirm that Serafina and Celeste have continued interacting since the one time we see them meet. And it confirms that Celeste has a side business selling charms and minor mysteries. And the scene confirm that Celeste does have a living father, though he doesn't live with her and her mother, with whom she has a rocky relationship. (This last was one of those things that more or less emerged on its own as I wrote the scene.)
Many of these details are useful background for Floodtide, but in the context of Mother of Souls the entire encounter is unnecessary except for that larger scene-setting purpose. So it's there for now but may not stay.
A lot depends on how prominent Celeste continues to be in this book. She's a useful foil for Serafina. She's doing magic at the entire opposite end of the scale from what Margerit practices: practical, mercenary, devoid of underlying theory. But as a bi-racial native of Rotenek, she has some lessons to teach Serafina about how to forge your own identity from the tools at hand. And once they'd had their first encounter, it seemed only natural that Serafina might strike up a friendship. The major gulf between them is one of class, and class is one of the axes on which Serafina feels most anxious. In theory, her background places her solidly in what Alpennia would recognize as middle class, but she's ignorant of many of the behavioral signifiers. That anxiety might turn some into a snob, but Serafina instead gravitates toward those who are less class-conscious (like the painter Olimpia Hankez) or those who won't look down on her for her social blunders (like Celeste).
Now that sounds like I'm convincing myself that the scene with Celeste stays!
Part of my writing process (as I've mentioned at some point before) is to toss in all manner of background details as scenery--minor characters, past interactions, etc.--and then later discover that they will be essential to my plot. This has a tendency to gradually increase the complexity of the book (and of the series overall) but in general seems to work for me.
In Mother of Souls, for the first time, I've started thinking that some of these details may need to get pruned in revisions. Conversely, I have a sneaking suspicion that the first revision pass will include a lot of layering in of references to minor character and subplots that aren't currently getting enough page-time to remind the reader of why they're important. But until I have the whole draft finished, I'm not sure I'll know which of these any particular scene belongs to.
In Chapter 13, Luzie and Serafina and two of Luzie's other boarders go off to enjoy a bit of Carnival (in part, because it's a useful way of reminding the reader where we are in the passage of time). While there, they bump into Celeste, the dressmaker's daughter, whom Serafina has befriended somewhat and who will be a significant secondary character in Floodtide. The interaction doesn't necessarily serve any plot purpose except to confirm that Serafina and Celeste have continued interacting since the one time we see them meet. And it confirms that Celeste has a side business selling charms and minor mysteries. And the scene confirm that Celeste does have a living father, though he doesn't live with her and her mother, with whom she has a rocky relationship. (This last was one of those things that more or less emerged on its own as I wrote the scene.)
Many of these details are useful background for Floodtide, but in the context of Mother of Souls the entire encounter is unnecessary except for that larger scene-setting purpose. So it's there for now but may not stay.
A lot depends on how prominent Celeste continues to be in this book. She's a useful foil for Serafina. She's doing magic at the entire opposite end of the scale from what Margerit practices: practical, mercenary, devoid of underlying theory. But as a bi-racial native of Rotenek, she has some lessons to teach Serafina about how to forge your own identity from the tools at hand. And once they'd had their first encounter, it seemed only natural that Serafina might strike up a friendship. The major gulf between them is one of class, and class is one of the axes on which Serafina feels most anxious. In theory, her background places her solidly in what Alpennia would recognize as middle class, but she's ignorant of many of the behavioral signifiers. That anxiety might turn some into a snob, but Serafina instead gravitates toward those who are less class-conscious (like the painter Olimpia Hankez) or those who won't look down on her for her social blunders (like Celeste).
Now that sounds like I'm convincing myself that the scene with Celeste stays!
