Twenty-Twenty Hindsight

Well, it's that time again: my writing hiatus is over, and I need to get back into working.

Hiatuses are good for me. I don't truly stop writing while on them; I spend my time thinking and brainstorming, even if I'm not putting words on pages. They also remind me of how much I like putting words on pages, especially after I finish a first draft. First drafts are exciting, but they're also a bit exhausting. I always need to break after finishing one.

But that break is over. I can't stand it anymore; I'm charged up with creative energy and I have time on my hands now that I just finished a binge-watch of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Which is very good, and I was satisfied at the ending while still being sad that it was over. It was a very good story with excellent characters. Maybe soon I'll do a post about it.

(I should really just do a post later about TV brothers; I'm watching Deception on ABC, now, and enjoying the brother dynamic there, too.)


Anyway, it's time to work on my current project. This morning I did some research and drew up a revision plan. It's a full page, single-spaced, and it gives me a good map for what work needs to be done.

It's always interesting to me when I finish a draft and start working on the revision plan. I always feel like I don't really know what the book is about or what my characters want until the end, and this one was no different.

For example, one of my characters is an antsy kid. She likes to poke around in places where she's not allowed to go, and as a result has a bit of a reputation as a problem child, while her brother is quiet, bookish, and rarely gets into trouble.

This has been interesting to see in hindsight of the draft, because Anna, the girl explorer, really, really wants to do something great. She admires the female explorers from the 1800-1900s (which was the research I did this morning, and that topic deserves at least one post of its own because it's AWESOME), but feels like her time came too late - all the dark corners of the world have already been explored. She feels this itch to see and do and know more than anyone else, but everything is already discovered, so her itch just gets her into trouble. I didn't realize this was so much of her character when I started.

It has also been interesting because Anna's brother Charlie is only a year younger than her, which raises the issue of parental favoritism in a way I haven't dealt with yet in my writing.

 
My character Jeremy in Under Locker and Key and Arts and Thefts has an older brother, and they knock heads, but they have a gap of years between them. Rick is a teenager, almost off to college, and Jeremy is halfway through middle school. They have their own spheres, so to speak.

But Anna and Charlie are in the same school and are measured by the same stick, and Charlie is considered the good kid, the good example. Anna, the older one, resents her younger sibling being the one she's told to be more like. This was something I could see coming as I started the draft, but as I wrote it, I could feel Anna's anger at being, as she feels, looked down on coming out more and more. She loves Charlie, and she doesn't blame him for being the favorite, but she wishes she was recognized for who she is, too, and not for who she isn't.

And that is something that came out more in the writing.

Writing is fun! I feel like a detective, growing to meet my characters with every word I write about them, not really knowing them or their story until I've put in the investigative effort, and even then, they may still surprise me. It's going to be great to get back to work, making the story come alive with everything I know now!