End-of-the year update: Over Yonder & Wall of Silence

It was high time I posted here again, now that my exams are over for the semester, so here it goes.

In the upcoming weeks, I’m going to work alternatively on Over Yonder and The Wall of Silence, since I’d really like to further the advancement of both stories. I’ve just proceeded to get rid of half a chapter of the latter, deciding that what I had written in it so far not only bore me, but also kind of left me puzzled regarding how to put an end to the scene. I really don’t like information-dumping chapters, and I’m afraid this one was definitely veering in that awful direction. So there it goes for the lengthy talk supposed to happen during two days, the reader really don’t need to be reminded every three lines how the difference in their languages is a problem and yadda-yadda. In the next chapter, the party will enter Calan, and I’ll be rid of the travelling part (did I ever mention not being too keen on characters travelling for several chapters?).

Why do I want them to be in Calan so much? Because in Calan, there be dragons… er, some more plot. In Calan, Kheril will haveto fulfill his diplomatic mission. In Calan, Kittin and Ren will experience their first real contact with Llenan people from all social classes, and be confronted to a hostility much more different, but no less dangerous, than the one displayed by the villagers of the previous chapters. In Calan dwell Ari the half-blood thief and her friend Domio the swordsman, and a trio of Kellenim who have a hand in many political matters. In Calan, inquisitors and guards devoted to the Church abound, and it’s not easy to escape them once one has been spotted for the ‘wrong’ reasons.

Come to think of it, I realize that I, and only I, am the one who put that whole ‘travel’ part in it, and sometimes, I wonder if this was a mistake. I very much doubt though that I could have pulled that whole crash thing with the ornithopter ending up closer to the city; I need my characters to be able to wander somewhat freely at first, because soon enough anyway, they will realize how easy it is to become an outlaw in a place as extreme as Calan, Tir Maragh or Runne. Besides, if I have them thrown in jail from the start, they’ll have to do everything by themselves to get out, without any external help (since they don’t know anyone there), and… well, no. Calan is a city in a medieval-like setting, but it’s also a city in which everyone too different gets labelled as “demon” or “sorcerer”, and consciously beaten to a pulp until they can’t move nor be a threat anymore. After all, why worry about prisoners escaping when one knows they’ve already had their ankles and fingers broken.

Therefore, I’m keeping my first version for the moment, and I’m going to spend the next days after Christmas putting the story back on trail in order for the core of the plot to finally be unveiled. There. I’m seriously tired of Act 2, I want to start working on Act 3, for Eien’s sake!

Tags: novel | over yonder | wall of silence | writing