(no subject)

[swan_tower]

This?

Was not supposed to be a 4200-word night.

In fact, I think I even promised kitsunealyc that it wouldn't be.

But, um, that promise, it got broke real good. There are just bits of story that you cannot stop in the middle of, and this turned out to be one. Not because of explosions -- the usual excuse -- but because I really didn't enjoy going some of the places I had to go, and once there, I'd rather just stay and get it all done with. Suffice to say that we are at the height of the Great Plague, at this point, and I feel obscurely that I owe it to the hundred thousand Londoners who died to do everything in my power to communicate just how horrific that was.

Horrific enough that people committed suicide rather than wait for the plague to finish killing them. Horrific enough that they threw themselves into the mass graves, already wrapped in their winding-sheets, as if they were corpses before they even died.

Imagining that is not exactly fun.

4200 words for seven scenes, most of them deeply unpleasant. It's a good thing tomorrow's scene will be . . . not exactly enjoyable, but a breath of air after this suffocating passage, because otherwise I'd be sorely tempted to take the day off. And then perhaps another, and then moving eats me alive, and the next thing I know I'm behind schedule and out of the novel's headspace.

I'm making good progress, at least.


Word count: 85,888
LBR quota: What do you think?
Authorial sadism: See above.

Comments

[jenstclair.livejournal.com]

This must be the week to write or something; I've done right around 13k in three days, all nasty scenes.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yeesh. Looks like you have more nasty than I do -- 13K, yikes.

[jenstclair.livejournal.com]

There was quite a bit of it. And it needed to be written. :)

[teleidoplex]

I had a feeling this might happen, all promises aside.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine what would have led you to think that. <g>

[ombriel.livejournal.com]

re: word count: You are insane!


(In a good way.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

It happens, y'know?

[sora-blue.livejournal.com]

There are just bits of story that you cannot stop in the middle of, and this turned out to be one. Not because of explosions -- the usual excuse

That is right up there with the quote from a poet I knew: "Kids love explosions!"

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I do mean "explosions" in a broad sense: big climactic bits of the book, with fights 'n showdowns 'n the like. This bit was climactic, I suppose, but in a much smaller way.

[sora-blue.livejournal.com]

Shh... I'm picturing gunpowder factories during the Great Fire. *g*

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

No gunpowder factories, but wharves full of oil, pitch, tar, and hemp, yes. And they did actually blow things up to create firebreaks -- especially to stop it from reaching the Tower of London, which was at the time a giant munitions depot.

[sora-blue.livejournal.com]

And the majority of the city was made of wood, too?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

And tarred timbers, and did I mention it had been a dry summer?

[sora-blue.livejournal.com]

Ugh, burning tarred timbers. That was reek something awful.

Oh, a friend finished MNC—she loved it, too, and is eagerly awaiting AAL. :D

[daydreammuse.livejournal.com]

Wowza, sounds hairy! Your progress is staggering. GO! Do it! Finish the novel. How much is left? And the great plague is really an unpleasent topic. How much research did you have to get to write those scenes in detail? I hope not too stomach unsettling.

[ex-hallways.livejournal.com]

heloo! im a first time reader, but a long time Urban Fantasy fan. been writing my own stories since i was about 5, my parents thought there was something wrong with me, LOL. anyway, we've not met at a con, but we share some similar writers that we like, namely Jeaniene Frost (im dying for her thrid book!( Melissa Marr, to name a few. considering i've just recently come into the awesomeness of Jeaniene, im looking for more awesomeness to while my hours away :D

my all time favourite book is "stardust" by Neil Gamain, and (i hate to admit it) 'Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. (the reason why im ashamed is that i read it wayyyy back before the media fangirl explosion when it was just this quiet ilttle thing, and now EVERYING is after it. kinda made me glad it's over now. :D )


man, hope that didn't souund too freaky. i dont quite ses straight at 7 a.m

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Sorry for not answering sooner; you caught me right in the middle of a cross-country move. But welcome!

[ex-hallways.livejournal.com]

haha thanks. and reading over my message, wow, was i tired or WHAT? i never do well unless it's after 2p.m. :D