Looks like UG will wind up being 80-90,000 words, at the rate it's going. I'll have 50K done by the end of the month, for sure, but the way the story's twisting and turning is bringing in more detail about Dev's life and his manner of handling his inner anger. But that's what I like -- building people in the story instead of mere characters to carry the plot. Then I let them do things that are really not good for garnering sympathy but make them even more human, in my eyes.
Devlin is proving to be a real problem to understand. Jake was a pain, but I knew basically where he was coming from. He'd drive me nuts with it, but he was never anything but a good guy...even when he's doing something questionable, in a moral or legal sense. As for Tone, he always had this laser-like focus going that could both help him and get him into trouble. He's complicated but not that complex.
Devlin, however...I don't want to say he's mentally unstable or brain-damaged from his father's physical abuse because those are easy outs. And he wants nothing to be simple or simply decent about him. He's close to being like Curt, with the animal in him, but he's a hundred times smarter and more self-aware...so I can't use Curt's limitations with him.
I'm toying with the idea that Devlin senses Reg is a cop and deliberately targets him, just for the fun of it. And that's what gets him into so much trouble. He notices Reg paying surreptitious attention to another man on the tube...and sees Reg do something deliberate to draw attention to himself...and Dev hates cops because they refused to help his mother...
Loki...that's Dev...the trickster...never sure which side he's on. He helps the Norse gods, and hinders them. Causes the death of one...that's why he's bound to the rocks, with a serpent dripping a painful poison onto him. Sigyn is the woman catching the poison in a bowl, but when she shifts to empty the bowl, the poison strikes Loki and his agony causes earthquakes.
I need to re-read the Poetic Edda...
Devlin is proving to be a real problem to understand. Jake was a pain, but I knew basically where he was coming from. He'd drive me nuts with it, but he was never anything but a good guy...even when he's doing something questionable, in a moral or legal sense. As for Tone, he always had this laser-like focus going that could both help him and get him into trouble. He's complicated but not that complex.
Devlin, however...I don't want to say he's mentally unstable or brain-damaged from his father's physical abuse because those are easy outs. And he wants nothing to be simple or simply decent about him. He's close to being like Curt, with the animal in him, but he's a hundred times smarter and more self-aware...so I can't use Curt's limitations with him.
I'm toying with the idea that Devlin senses Reg is a cop and deliberately targets him, just for the fun of it. And that's what gets him into so much trouble. He notices Reg paying surreptitious attention to another man on the tube...and sees Reg do something deliberate to draw attention to himself...and Dev hates cops because they refused to help his mother...
I need to re-read the Poetic Edda...
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