Not so ordinary life

Sometimes in life, nothing happens; in fiction, everything happens.

I've been busily working away at editing my 2003 Nano Huntress to the virtual exclusion of all else. Yeah, sure, I had my eldest sister visiting for the weekend, but she had schoolwork to do and the best way to get siblings to do their work is to do some yourself.

I've reached the end and found some problems. In particular, the rush to finish it - anyone who's done Nano knows all about rushing - one fundamental problem arose: that of a lack of description.

As the author, I can easily picture the book in my mind; others will not. Ergo, the next read through will be looking at the descriptions, what can be improved, what has to be put in!

It reads remarkably well - I am damn cruel to my protagonist, Cambria, but what does not kill your hero/heroine makes them dangerous to be around.

I once read that to make a believable character, you must put them through unbelievable things; situations where a normal person would probably give up, but an extraordinary person would grit their teeth and carry on. I've read a number of books like that: the early Honor Harrington, the first five Anita Blakes, the Stardoc series. All the characters get the shite kicked out of 'em, but they keep going because to fail means... disaster; not just for them, but the population at large. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who have the same motivations.

I've heard authors snickering over the awful things they're doing to their characters, and be cagey on how they get their characters out of impossible situations. It's a part of what makes being a writer so much fun.

It can be pretty amazing when you set up a casting call for characters, explain what's going to happen and have a number of them present themselves for murder-death-kill, emotional and physical torture, adventure, travel, the chance to play with weapons, to handle love-interests, all to get into print.

Okay, eventually into print. I'm putting Huntress aside for this week, then going through it again on the weekend. I'm hoping to post an extended excerpt next week on my website if you're interested in reading it for pleasure, for critiquing, for suggestions.

So, how are your own great works going?