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Uncharted territory...

I've spent the last week not writing. I think I've figured out the main problem. (There were non-main problems such as lack of sleep and brain death, but that's normal stuff.) I had gone ahead with the action (such as it is) and not taken the time, now that the single alien had turned out to have four other survivors in her company, of taking the time to name them. The convoluted referring to individuals with descriptions was... prohibitive. It's just that things happened before they had a chance to point at things and repeat names until everyone figured out who everyone was... but too bad. I went back and *made* them have time.

So I added stuff to scenes or between scenes and messed up continuity. I'll have to do an editing pass eventually. But I think I still need to do a... plumping... pass of what I added and of the last couple of scenes before going forward again.

I still need to work on developing conflict, however. Now that I've introduced alien POV scenes it might be good to think of parallel conflicts on both sides, human and alien, rather than primarily conflict between them, though it would need to be that both sides need to find a satisfactory resolution or it all goes down the crapper. Some decent tension should arise from the fact that, even if they don't know what troubles the other side is having, everyone is essentially helpless if the conflicts they aren't aware of go south. The unseen danger idea.

Or something.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hi, Synova:

I'm not exactly sure how to approach this so I'll just come out and ... er, write it. We at A Second Hand Conjecture want to invite you to join as a contributer. We have been a fan of your comments over at QandO for awhile now, and in the process of seeking to expand our editorial board I suggested you.

Lance sent you an email about this, but I'm guessing that it got caught up in your spam filter. In any case, please drop by for a visit and consider the invitation. There are no rules (post as often or as little as you like, on whatever interests you), we simply think your voice would be an excellent addition to the ASHC crew. So, please consider the invite and let us know.

Cheers,
MichaelW
7:58 AM
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