I have 3 big green ring-binders filled with printouts from earlier writing I did on Place of Safety, so I read through those, tonight, to see just what I'd once thought and see if I'd written in ideas that could still be used. Man, I did a lot of jumping around. I'd also inserted handwritten pages to indicate what still needed to be written. And I can see how the story's already begun to shift in shape and meaning from my initial work.
And how it hasn't. How the basis for the book was there from the beginning. My earlier work is simple...more like place-holding to give me time to pull the full spine together...but some parts are still brutal and warm. Overwritten because I'm exploring what needs to be there, yet easily readable and flowing. For as long as it goes.
I've also added chapters since these were written, like a secret meeting between Brendan and Colm at the circle fort after Brendan's returned to Derry and been beaten, and the manner in which another character comes back from the dead. But that's how it should be. I've got the known vertebrae lined up; what's left is inserting the remaining bones to finalize the spine.
I do think Brendan natters on a bit...but I'm not sure that's bad. He's telling the story and giving his impressions of everything that happens...his interpretations. Sometimes, they aren't correct and the action shows this. Other times, they're too precise and on-the-nose, which I don't like but can be corrected. And other times he talks of details that someone like him wouldn't even think of mentioning...which I may cut out and which may work out well for me, since I'm not from that part of the world.
But still, the honesty of his voice keeps moving through everything. The reality of his world gives him foundation for his thoughts. The truths he's forced to face show him lies surround him...as does love...
He's going to be a difficult contradictory character, our Brendan, and I hope he is accepted for it.
And how it hasn't. How the basis for the book was there from the beginning. My earlier work is simple...more like place-holding to give me time to pull the full spine together...but some parts are still brutal and warm. Overwritten because I'm exploring what needs to be there, yet easily readable and flowing. For as long as it goes.
I've also added chapters since these were written, like a secret meeting between Brendan and Colm at the circle fort after Brendan's returned to Derry and been beaten, and the manner in which another character comes back from the dead. But that's how it should be. I've got the known vertebrae lined up; what's left is inserting the remaining bones to finalize the spine.
I do think Brendan natters on a bit...but I'm not sure that's bad. He's telling the story and giving his impressions of everything that happens...his interpretations. Sometimes, they aren't correct and the action shows this. Other times, they're too precise and on-the-nose, which I don't like but can be corrected. And other times he talks of details that someone like him wouldn't even think of mentioning...which I may cut out and which may work out well for me, since I'm not from that part of the world.
But still, the honesty of his voice keeps moving through everything. The reality of his world gives him foundation for his thoughts. The truths he's forced to face show him lies surround him...as does love...
He's going to be a difficult contradictory character, our Brendan, and I hope he is accepted for it.
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