Remembering not to forget

Chapter 13 was drafted, and with a bit of flourish. In my more quiet moments, I've wondered where the drafts of the first iteration stop and the benefits of the re-writing begins, and have come up with nothing. The net benefit is that this story is better, and more full, but there are times when I am making something I did in the go round better, and there are times I'm off the beaten path completely. I also don't know to what extent I should be aware of things I did previously, much less how to forget about those things. I think, "well, this happens next," and sometimes, sometimes, I catch myself in a reminder of, "no, anything could happen. Don't force it."

Currently, I'm in a grouping of sections that all take place more or less concurrent with one another during a world event that came about in the development of the setting in preparation for the rewrite. Maybe because of the nature of the event, or maybe for some other reason, I'm finding myself making room to provide opportunities for unveiling. In the past, I've been accused of riding the knife edge between not giving enough information and giving enough to make it a mystery. In so doing, I've lost a lot of readers, I think, or, more than I should have. I haven't discovered the reason for this yet, but I'm still searching.

A feminist read my first book. I only mention her personal ideology (political stance? gender view?) because she pointed out that there is no mention of the female gender, or any female character in the first 25 pages. She counted the pages. Given that the book is only 160 or so long, that is a moderate chunk. What's more, I didn't even notice. It was humbling to have something like that pointed out. Despite how I think I feel about women's rights issues, and however long ago I wrote the first book, the facts are the facts. I suppose this is normally the part where I defend myself. But, even though there are female main characters, to have a dearth in the background could be indicative of something. After she told me, I went and looked at all the stories I had written in the past year. I think I've gotten better, but, who really knows.

This week I'll start running game again, something I haven't done in conjunction with writing a novel in some time. I'm interested to see how my system balances the draw on my mental energies. Yesterday, I thought I might try for chapter 14. I had the time, and I really felt like I had the words. I didn't, but even feeling confident is a nice change of pace. Considering the possible reasons behind it, all I could think of was that my outline is so much stronger this time. The story has confident bones.

So, I guess it's fitting that I've waxed on my past in an effort to improve my future, given the season. I feel good. Insert snide, pessimistic comment.

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