Saturday, January 12, 2013

Hi-Ho

I've spent most of my recent time on the project digging out referenced research (yes, even in my made-up fantasy construct, I've done a good deal of research) from a stack of books filled with bookmarks. I've been either adding the references to the wall, or into the Scrivener project. I have to say, this feels like work. Very little creativity involved here, just trying to collocate the reference with the material it will be used in.

The good part though, is that this week I had one of those epiphanies where I realized that I had this great set of parallel metaphors sitting around just waiting for me to see it and I think it will help make for a dramatic opening to the story and then have a profound resonance later in the story. I know that doesn't do much for anyone reading this, but it felt good to have it arrive on my doorstep.

Next step is a bit more research. The story opens in the early 17th century and involves the ocean voyage of a group of English settlers headed for the New World. I want to get the details of that part right. After that, things open up and my imagination takes over, so hopefully less research and more creativity. Though I have to say that I like to weave references and allusions into this stuff, so you can be sure that there will be more discussions of my side adventures into the realm of research.

No comments: