rolanni: (Caution: Writing Ahead)
rolanni ([personal profile] rolanni) wrote2011-10-08 12:40 pm

I went to the rock to hide my face; the rock cried “Ain’t no hidin’ place!”

So, a couple days ago I did the read-through (and fly-edit) of the first 60 grand of Necessity’s Child, then brought the blood-soaked pages back to the desk to input the changes.

And stalled at Chapter Four, because, um.

Let’s just say that Chapter Four is a Pivotal Chapter and it’s kicking my can.

Anyhow, this morning, in-between bread-punching, laundry, and torturing Mozart, I sat on the couch with a yellow pad and a pen, and Brooded.  I also doodled.  And made lists about other parts of the story, and had an epiphany, which is that I was holding shy of the villain ’cause they scare me.  As they should.  Very scary villain, here.  Just so you know.  And doodled some more, and realized that Chapter Four needed to explicate the Top Level Conflict, not the Secondary Conflict.  Which helped about as much as you’d think it would, so I went back to making lists, and realized the perfect time for the villain to — well, never mind.  But it’s awesome, really.  At least, I’m in awe.  Also kind of bummed that I hadn’t thought of it weeks ago.  And doodled.  And wrote some dialog.  And a little more dialog, and went back and made notes on the Big List of Stuff that Has to Happen before I wrote some more dialog, and…

I don’t want to be Unduly Optimistic, but I think I may have Chapter Four nailed.  The writing will tell, of course, but — I think I’ve got it.

Of course, that means that the information that’s actually in the present-but-soon-to-be-former Chapter Four has to go someplace else, because it is important, just not important where it is.  But I think I can sprinkle bits here and there throughout the existing chapters.

Fascinating, nu?

In far more interesting news, I see that Frency and the Punk’s Kickstarter campaign to raise production money for their next two CDs is less than $200 short of their goal.  And!  They say that, if donations total more than the basic production costs, the overage will go toward producing a lyrics book, which excites me, because, well.  Y’all know how I feel about lyrics.

OK, so.  The bread’s about ready to put in the oven, and we should rustle up some lunch.  After that, it’s the big Chapter Four rewrite.

Spot me; I’m going in.

 



Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

[identity profile] keristor.livejournal.com 2011-10-08 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Fascinating, da!

Yes, the song is a traditional spiritual collected in the early 1900s but probably a lot older. B5 certainly re-popularised it...

[identity profile] attilathepbnun.livejournal.com 2011-10-08 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Every time I hear that song, I see that scene *evil grin*

[identity profile] rolanni.livejournal.com 2011-10-08 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
This being one those times that being culturally illiterate is working against me. I have never, to my knowledge, seen an episode of Babylon-5, and had no idea until this morning, when I did a fast Google to find the song's title -- and couldn't! because of all the B5 references cluttering my search results -- that the song had been "made famous" by the show.

(Anonymous) 2011-10-08 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, that was Almost Zen, that Battle with Chapter Four. Maybe Battle is the
wrong word...Zen doesn't really DO offense, more not-being-there-when-the-blow
lands.

Mudcat, aka Digital Tradition-that-was, has your lyrics listed for several
possible songs. THE ROCKS AND THE MOUNTAINS, NO HIDIN' PLACE, and
NO HIDING PLACE DOWN THERE. The Carter Family sang one of them - that's
probably the voices of the version in my head. A lot of folk list Johnson as
the composer but that's like listing HT Burliegh as composing WERE YOU THERE-
these guys *arranged* the songs and saw to it the were archived on pages.
Dead useful but NOT the composers. I love how some of the phrases get
used over and over again on different songs....

Lauretta@ConstellationBooks who still wonders why the ship have to spin around
3 times before they sink. What's wrong with 2 or 4?

[identity profile] rolanni.livejournal.com 2011-10-08 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Aha! "No Hiding Place Down There," is the version I knew/know: "Hell is deep and Hell is wide; you can't touch the bottom and you can't touch the side."

Thanks!

(Anonymous) 2011-10-09 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Anytime!
Especially if it's folk music...
Lauretta

Spinning ships

(Anonymous) 2011-10-09 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
For what its worth - in the Irish Rover - "9 times around and the poor old dog was drown.." - doesn't always have to be 3 but 3 squared shows up in this case.

Bob

Re: Spinning ships

(Anonymous) 2011-10-09 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahhh, forgot that one.
For the longest time I thought that was a serious song. I mean you can have 27 masts?
Right? I was a very naive youngster.

Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

[identity profile] joycependle.livejournal.com 2011-10-08 08:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Fascinating, yes!

So glad you are having epiphanies.