Apologies to Dickens… couldn’t resist.
Recently I’ve written a new chapter, plumbing the history of the antagonist in my novel. It’s been quite a bit of fun, and I’m looking forward to filling in more of the gaps that currently are only spanned in the confines of my mind. (An aside, why is it sometimes that writing the “bad-guys” is easier than the “good-guys?” By and large, I’ve had much stronger positive reaction to just about every antagonist chapter I’ve put the book before… which is why I’m expanding those sections. I hope that doesn’t mean I’m evil or something!)
This most recent chapter includes two main scenes, showing the development of a relationship between the antagonist POV character and his leader. I’m not sure whether either of these scenes will make it into the novel, and frankly I started out a lot more suspicious of whether the first of the two will make the cut.
So last night I sat down to edit the chapter into shape for critique group, and what did I find? The scene that I was already questioning in my mind needed TONS more work. The pages were littered with blue ink, while the later scene came through largely unscathed. I don’t remember whether I had specific doubts about the first scene as I was writing it, but it’s interesting the parallel between them. I did expect at the time that the second would be the stronger scene, but it’s weird how much of that’s reflected in the word-by-word details.
I’m traveling for business the rest of this week (a rare occasion for me) so hopefully I’ll be able to make some good progress while I’m away. I’ve only packed one novel to take with. That should prompt me to pick up my own scattered pages and get stuff done!