So, as you can probably tell from my slinging all those excerpts at you, I have been writing like a freaking son of a gun. Only those pieces are old now- I'm much further ahead. I usually let things simmer for a good while before I feel confident putting them out, and even then, they get changed later.
I added about ten thousand words in the last five days or so- I took it from fifty thousand to sixty thousand. I would have written more except that Keith keeps wanting me to interact with him.
I know, right? Who does he think he is, my husband or something? Heh.
So, I end up writing late into the night, and when I get up, I'm almost afraid to read what I did the night before.
Which is the reason why I'm writing this post, as a matter of fact.
I completely deconstructed Tenshio. It's so ironic. It was supposed to be Gilly that got deconstructed. What I didn't realize, but should have known, is that, for Gilly, that already happened. That's the first half of the book.
The second half of the book is about Gilly getting put back together over a slow process of twelve years and huge amount of investment from Tenshio. The natural result of this is that it's he and not Gilly that gets torn apart at the end of the second half.
I broke him down, and I mean, I broke him right the hell down. He has nothing left. I tore off layer after layer of his self possession, calm reserve and strength.
I'm not sure I'm going to keep it this way. It feels so wrong. I feel so bad for the guy. He's taking over my damn story.
Also, the third section of my story is now larger than the first and second combined. Which means that they will be combined- the story will be in two parts, not three. Of course, the first part needs some major and massive revisions, which will help balance everything out.
Oh, I love getting to the end! I love the view. It's stunning.
Oh my goodness, people. This story. When I brought Gilly back up to the Nishiyama shrine, the story just dropped out from under me, like the view from a glass bottomed boat. The depth this story contains! It's extraordinary.
There's vast physical distances, and there's vast amounts of emotional history and there's a large span of time that the reader lives through. And because they live through it, it's as though they themselves can remember what Gilly remembers.
I've given the reader memory within the story. It's astounding. Like, it's not like just meeting a character and he's mourning for something past, and the author describes to you what that was, and you feel for the character, because you can imagine how that feels.
Instead, it's like the reader goes back to a place they themselves have been to, so that they and Gilly feel the same way automatically.
And what's better, is that the first time the reader is at the shrine, Gilly is a child, so they see it through a child's eyes.
Nothing is explained. Gilly has magical thinking, she doesn't wonder about how Tenshio lives his life, or cooks his food, or passes the time. The reader has no idea how things happen, or why, or what context to place Tenshio into. At that time, his inhumanity is striking.
The second time they come, Gilly is a young woman. She sees the shrine, and Tenshio, as she did as a child, but now also as an adult, having been raised amid the daemon for over a decade. There's still mystery, but there's also perspective. The reader understands everything, context, purpose, and history. At this time, it almost comes as a shock that Tenshio isn't human.
At least, it seems that way to me.
I tell you what, it just keeps getting deeper and better, each story I write. I'm petrified of the next story, of the possibility that there might not be anything left in me to write about.
