A Lot Going On

I keep thinking about all of the background elements I have let slide the past few months. I think I finished with determining where all 7,400+ people lived every year of their life, but I'm not sure. I know I haven't finished with the military. That is critical if I am ever to make Tavaar's life into a real book.

At the same time I have Book I - currently titled, A Traitor in the Midst - to refinish. By the way, I have yet to have anyone tell me how that title grabs them. I've gone through so many titles that others hate I'm kind of shy about believing I've got a good one.

That I have a good book I do not doubt. That the book is interesting and fun to read I do not doubt. That an agent could sell it to a publisher I do not doubt. That a publisher could make good money off it I do not doubt.

So what do I doubt?

My ability to sell it to an agent when I finish it again. Damn query letters. I wish query letters were living things. I just might commit murder.

I can't sell. I just can't. It has nothing to do with how much I believe in the product. As soon as I'm supposed to convince someone else something is good I lose all enthusiasm. My focus leaves the product and turns to, "Who in the h*ll am I to be trying to convince this person/these people of anything?"

In the meantime, I still have to finish Book I. When I do then, perhaps, I will return to background work.

Getting There in Time

One of my peeves with storytellers is their ignoring of space, time and distance. And it isn't just the unsuccessful who are guilty. The Star Wars Saga did this time and time again. One moment the characters would be moaning about how far away some place was, and the next they cover the distance in hardly any time at all. When the story required someone to be some place, they were there. No explanation of how or why.

To be perfectly honest, my feeling was Lucas and company failed us storywise. I still remember reading an interview he gave in which he admitted they wrote the third installment on the fly. He would later deny this, and claim everything they did had been planned from the beginning. Pretty lousy planning, if you ask me. The story ceased to make any sense. What it did make was millions of dollars. And when I criticize the story this is the counter argument. Making money is more important than making a good story. Okay. I'll accept that argument. But then don't try telling me it's a good story because it made money.

I sometimes wonder if I put too much effort into making sure my characters can be where I need them to be. And that they have a reason for being there. This is not to say I am against a character showing up 'in the nick of time'. Coincidence plays a part in life, so it has a part in fiction. But there is always a reason why characters do what they do and go where they go. But before they get there the Reader must see them on their way. This can be done with offhand comments by other characters.

In Book I, Khirsha and Sayla are caught in a compromising situation while on watch by Khirsha's father. That Shello shows up when he does is coincidence. That he was on his way was not. Khirsha and Sayla had been placed on watch to explicitly wait for Shello's arrival. He was overdue. And he didn't show up on their first day.

Sometimes it is easy to be jealous of the very successful. Not because they are successful, but because they no longer take the time to do their best work. I saw all six Star Wars films. It seemed to me that each was worse than its predecessor as regarded story. As for special effects and comic scenes they were all great.

When people cite Star Wars as good storytelling I want to puke. No it isn't. What Star Wars proves is that the best is not required. And I suppose I am a heretic for saying so.