Wow, that's a lotta action for 50 pages

[rolanni]

So, what I've been doing today, around infodumps, laundry and cat-skritching, is making a timeline, sort of, of the last eight chapters of Scout's Progress. I must say that we managed to squeeze a lot into those last few pages. Happily, because things were moving so fast, we left a bunch of details unmentioned. Now, we get to mention them. At least, some of them.

*rubs hands together*

This is gonna be fun.

For those six other people in the world with an interest in timelines, and to protect them what might not yet have read Scout's Progress, look .


Timing, Last Eight Chapters of Scout's Progress


It is early morning, but well after dawn at the Mizel Clanhouse in Chonselta when Ran Eld reads the news of Aelliana's lift "yesterday"

At Solcintra, Daav climbs the tree; it is just coming dawn

At Binjali's Clonak and Frad are doing a repair; it is the morning after a serious night of partying -- hardly dawn

Aelliana wakes

Ran Eld arrives at Binjali's and departs, possibly for the Port Master's office

Scarcely has he gone then Aelliana arrives at Binjali's and is apprised of her brother's visit. She takes some time to consider the situation, argues with Clonak, and leaves for Chonselta

She arrives in Raingleam Street, having presumably taken the first available ferry to the other side of the world

There is an altercation between herself and her brother, she is knocked unconscious and placed in the sleep learner

The danger-zone mentioned re brain-burn and the sleep learner is 6 hours, at max

Meanwhile, in Solcintra, Daav and Er Thom are talking. Samiv tel'Izak presents herself to her delm. Daav eats lunch and retires to his room, instructing Mr. pel'Kana that he is not at home. He dithers for a "while," and finally settles down to carve. Frad's call comes in, he takes a stated ten minutes to dress appropriately, and rushes out, finding Samiv in his drawing room. They leave together for Chonselta.

The above action is interspersed with scenes of Aelliana in the sleep learner

In Chonselta, Ran Eld has not come down to Prime (evening) meal and Voni is in a pet. She leaves the table with her meal unfinished. Sinit scores an extra popover, and retires to the library to read.

The timer goes off; the sleep learner opens

Sinit is roused from her reading by the doorbell. Being youngest, she is responsible for the door. The porch-light is on. Daav shows her his ring and asks to be taken to Aelliana. Sinit says that she believes Aelliana is in Solcintra, but nontheless lets Korval and his companion in.

Palaver and confusion with the various sibs. Sinit discovers the savaged and abandoned sleep learner. The timer has stopped at five hours (stated). When Daav looks out of the open window, he sees the garden gate swinging on its hinges, rocked by the night-breeze.

More palaver as the delm arrives, then Daav and Samiv are away, hot on Aelliana's trail. She, in the meantime, has convinced a sympathetic cabbie to take her to Chonselta Guild Hall. The pilots there call Jon dea'Cort, who instructs them to take her immediately to the Healers.

It appears to be quite late when Daav and Samiv finally arrive at Healer Hall, having tracked Aelliana through the city, to the cab driver, to the Guildhall and so forth. The Healers refuse to allow him to see Aelliana, and tell him to come back "tomorrow."

Returning via Daav's jump-buggy to Solcintra, he calls Clonak's father and feeds him the gossip to be shared with Samiv's delm. He finds her "at breakfast" (stated). Some while later, Daav and Samiv arrive, and Daav is shown out.

Daav returns home and shouts at the tree

He is next seen being let into Chonselta Healer Hall, where he is given a glass of wine and left to stew. Master Healer Kestra arrives, they talk and he is at last allowed to go up to Aelliana.

Abovestairs, Aelliana is looking out over the garden, the sun high and bright in the sky

The End!

heh, heh, heh...

Comments

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I'm one of those 'six', I wonder how many more than that number there are. Probably quite a lot, seeing some of the discussions elsewhere about such things (recently the ones trying to work out when Theo's story fits in). Aelliana is one of my favourite characters (I seem to have a tendency to fall in love with your characters whose names start with A -- Aelliana, Anthora, Anne...), so I'm really looking forward to this new book...

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

Only six? I'm certainly one! I'm anxiously awaiting this book!! Oh wait, I'm always wanting Liaden Universe books, what am I thinking? They're on my "must read at least five times a year" list. ::shrug::

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Me! Me! (also, love the tag.)

So what's the total elapsed time?

[sleary.livejournal.com]

If I'm not mistaken, everything up to the gossip with Samiv's delm happens in a single day. The next day Samiv's delm breaks off the engagement, Daav yells at the tree, and then he goes to Chonselta Healer Hall. So... day and a half?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

So what's the total elapsed time?

I make it between 24 and 28 hours.

The purpose of the exercise was to make sure that there was enough wiggle-room in the timing to allow Daav to do Certain Necessary Things before he returns to Chonselta. I thought there was, and indeed, there is. And that is a Good Thing, because Mouse and Dragon starts inside of the winding-down of the last chapters of Scout.

We have sworn to Toni that we will provide enough information up-front so Brand New Readers will not be instantly lost. Still toying with the notion of starting with the interview with Samiv's delm...

[sleary.livejournal.com]

Still toying with the notion of starting with the interview with Samiv's delm...

I'd pay to see it! ;)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

I thought that was what in media res meant? Start with confusion and bafflement (okay, action, lights, flashes and mysterious booms, cats walking through walls, things to get the reader reading!), then slowly let them in on what's going on?

A good hearty argument does provide a way to settle the reader into the situ with a bit of informative dialogue.

Looking forward to it -- and thanks for the timeline!

[keristor.livejournal.com]

"in media res"? I thought that meant virtual memory (resident on other media) *g*...

(That technique tends not to work on me, because I usually do a "page 117 test" -- turn to a page around that number, which is usually a way beyond the beginning but not close to the end, and see if that page grabs me. That way I avoid any 'hooks' an author might have put at the start and get a sample of what the writing is really like, if I turn the page to see what's next I'll buy the book.)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Yes, but you know, if you buy the book, you'll want to read the beginning sometime, and it ought to be worth your while, too.

Avoiding hooks...hooks are what make the story go. That being so, you're just as likely to encounter one on page 117 -- in fact, it will be a hook that pulls you onto page 118, in a book that passes the test...

[keristor.livejournal.com]

In the books I like that's certainly true, which is why the page 117 test. The reason I want to avoid the hooks at the start is because every writer puts those in, my test is to see whether they do it on every page or only at the beginning. But it's not just obvious hooks which interest me, it's writing style, characters (if an author can make a character grab me on one random page) and other aspect which I don't necessarily consciously notice.

(I think the first line of AoC is up there with the best hooks I know. Possibly matched by Heinlein's "Once there was a Martian called Smith", I'd be hard put to choose between them.)

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

I rememeber bouncing off Downbelow Station multiple times, because of the high confusion factor and jumping around myriads cast of characters viewpoints--the books starts off with a short introduction about the Company War, then jumps onto the Earth Company Ship Norway with the viewpoint character being that warship's captain, Signy Mallory, who is shepherding a convoy of mutinous evacuated refugees to an unsuspecting Pell Station, aka Downbelow Station. A few pages later, the viewpoint moves to a different character somewhere else, and then a few pages later yet another character.... The view is much much non-omniscient. A few people have perspectives that are wider than the immediate situation they're in and most don;'t even have that--they're the equivalent of characters stuck in a Funhouse with homicidal maniacs running around shooting and setting off bombs....

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Ah, true. The rapidly shifting POV stories sometimes are very confusing. Offhand it seems to me that our auctors have tended more to a single viewpoint in a chapter -- and being pretty good about letting us know when they are shifting POV.

I certainly have found some books in the SF field that have taken the initial mysteries and puzzlements a bit far, sometimes without later resolutions. For a while there seemed to be a vogue of having a first chapter or perhaps prologue that was completely off-the-wall, purple prose and fireworks, followed by a very prosaic second chapter. Those were difficult to read. But I digress, as usual.

Balancing the mysteries and wonders with enough recognizable "here we are" so that they produce a sense of wonder and not just vertigo is the art of SF, perhaps?

[baggette.livejournal.com]

and me! I think, maybe you have a few more than six.

[drammar.livejournal.com]

Many more than six. Count me in -- and when I loaned SP to my sister her reaction: "Whew, that's a lot of action for a day and a half."

[otterb.livejournal.com]

Not much of an interest in timelines per se, but a great deal of interest in SP and its sequel. It's hard to pick a favorite out of the Liaden books but SP is certainly in my top 3. Looking forward greatly to the new book.

Also, it's interesting to see the high points of the action from the author's point of view. When I reread that section I'm inevitably too sucked in and dragged along to *analyze* it.

[(Anonymous)]

"Sinit scores an extra popover."

Somehow that turn of phrase makes my morning (why? Well, it's just that you can kind of feel the appreciation ("feel the love") for that minor character who is "just a kid" but played a major role).

Maybe I'll go out and try to score a popover too, now...

Which is one way to say that seeing these authorial mindstream intermediate products does indeed help slake the thirst for things Liaden, which helps make the 6 grow. Thanks, Sharon!

(Of course, we all understand that when Sharon says "6," it's like those corporate annual reports with the columns of numbers that say, "All figures in $1,000s of dollars." So we all understand that 6 means $6,000, or in this case 6,000 readers. You know, 5x the paid number of Fledglings. That sounds right to me!)

John Hawkinson
questing Chicago for a popover

SP minor chars are indeed interesting.

[(Anonymous)]

Whatever *did* happen to Sinit (other than becoming Delm in her time, as is implied in Plan B?) And to Samiv as well? Inquiring minds do want to know...

Although I'm not sure I want to read a novel in which Aelli gets killed, as hinted in the title "Mouse and Dragon." *Sniff*