(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

*squints* Must...switch...brain...from Dust to Water, which is harder than one might think. It's not so much the Peter/Peta thing (although that doesn't help) as the fact that, although they may initially seem to be the same basic story (help, help! Narnia is overrun by invaders and must be saved! you have no idea how many times I've typed "Telmarines" instead of "Calormenes" in Dust and "Calormenes" instead of "Telmarines" in Water), they are in fact completely different in terms of tone, structure, and scale. Also, Dust is a much tighter story; I opened up Water yesterday to find myself right in the middle of one of the talkyface sections I've been ruthlessly cutting out of Dust. Also, Caspian? Not the most fascinating narrator in the world (well, coming off Susan), because the Pevensies don't trust him and therefore he's not doing anything fun and exciting.

Well, to be fair, there's not really anything fun and exciting going on anyway. There was supposed to be a three-month siege; I just managed to exposition-dump myself into realizing why that would be a very, very bad idea.

Perhaps a slightly shorter siege. I mean, I know vaguely what's going to happen: Miraz is going to march on the How, there's going to be a really spectacularly failed attempt at negotiation, Peta and Caspian are going to have sex, there's going to be skirmishing between the Narnians and the Telmarines, Peta, like Peter, is going to turn out to be down with her classical references and try and play out the Lysistrata with Prunaprisma (at this point I have to put something interesting in), more sex, more skirmmishing, Professor Cornelius is going to show up, the duel, the battle, and then some endgame stuff.

*pause* Wait, I thought I had less than that. OH WELL. Anyway, the main problem is that Dust is a much tighter story becuase I know what all the characters are doing and what the main emotional notes are; Water falters because I keep tripping up on what the rest of the Pevensies are doing and because there's a pretty strong focus on Peta/Caspian (which makes sense, given that it's a Caspian POV). I have the action plot, I just haven't figured out the emotional plot.

WAIT. Oh. That was my problem. Well, I'm glad I've figured that out, now I just have to figure out what the emotional/thematic plot is. With emphasis on this being a Caspian POV, but not really a Caspian story. (Although. It probably doesn't help that when I'm talking with my friends, I keep saying that my narrator and my MC are two different people. Caspian is my narrator and Peta's my MC. BUT IS THIS TRUE?)

...I have to go muse on this revelation now. Well, that and go to class. But mostly the musing.

Comments

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

*laves your fevered brow with cool water, not that it will HELP...'cause you is crazy, mamita!*


:)

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I am actually really bothered about the no emotional plot thing.

Although this just does go to show that Water isn't a novel, it's a short story, or at most a novella.

[starsimpulse.livejournal.com]

i... have no idea what to say to you. except maybe, 'good luck.'

also, i totally just pimped you over at narniaslash, so maybe expect more people in the madhouse. maybe. or maybe you'll frightnen them of with our, you know, madhouse-ness. XD

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Aw. *blushes*

The part about having no emotional or thematic plot has been bothering me all day. How the hell did I get 36K in without an emotional or thematic plot? *shakes head*

[starsimpulse.livejournal.com]

it's alright, bb. you were distracted by all the sexings. it's kind of hard to focus on such meaningless things as plot when your flist is screaming "WE WANT MORE SEX!"

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have an action plot; I have two action plots, the main PC plot and then the Peta/Caspian plot. I just don't have a thematic plot or an emotional arc.

[starsimpulse.livejournal.com]

oh, yes. that is what i meant. it just takes longer to write thematic and emotional plot as opposed to just plot. *is lazy*

also, i love that peta/caspain is thier own action plot. teehee. and this is your first story that has a distinct pairing (Besides Once More For The Ages), right? i mean everything else is just been implied, or if it hasn't been implied, it's just been snippets posted here and there or in comemnts, right?

oh wait, i forgot about In A Dry Month. *facepalm* what else did i forget? i'm sure there is something.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily that it takes longer, it's just more...integral, I guess. I mean, with Dust, the action plot grew out of the emotional/thematic plot; it didn't have an action plot beyond "rescue Narnia!" until fairly recently, but it had the emotional plot the whole way through. But Water doesn't have an emotional plot at all; I have no idea where it's going. Not just the first part, but all three parts; there should be an overarching emotional and thematic plot and there's not.

Action plot in that something happens, I mean. I should...probably figure out if Peta/Caspian is the primary plot or the secondary plot. *sigh*

[starsimpulse.livejournal.com]

oh, no i meant that i was too lazy to write out the words 'thematic and emotional'.

well, that's a pickle alright. right now my pickle is that i have my final in med terms tommarrow and i kind of need to, like, study.

*goes off to torture herself*

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I see it is one of those days. *headdesk*

...yeah, that studying thing. *stares at ceiling. Four classes tomorrow, and one of them is twice as long as it usually is, and then I have to remember to see The Mousetrap before it closes. AND THEN.