Project 30 Challenge day 7
Progress report
I wrote for about twenty minutes and finished chapter one. I almost went back and made some edits, but I restrained myself. I can hold off making changes until I finish the first draft. I think.
While I was on my walk I realized that the way I had been envisioning the ship was too boring and pedestrian, and that I wanted something better. Changing the design of the ship would necessitate changing some of the prose as Roselia rushes from one place to another in the opening chapter, but I figure I can just make a little note on the side about the change, and move forward as if I’ve already made the change. That way when it’s time for revision, there’s less work to actually do.
The other thing I’m thinking about is whether or not to make this a duel perspective story. For right now, I don’t think it’s the right move, but it’s something to think about for the future. To think about what could be gained or lost by adding in that second POV for things outside of Roselia’s immediate experience.
Factoid
In the nearly 400 words I wrote today, I did some worldbuilding I hadn’t actually planned on doing, by naming some other ships and planets in Roselia’s realm of experience. In the process of that, I now have more cathedral ships named, within the same commission group as Roselia’s ship, as well as four planets. It’s not much, but it helped flesh out the naming convention of places and things, which builds culture and thus builds character. I don’t think Roselia is from any of the now named planets, so it will be interesting to see where she is from, if that ever comes up later.
Inspiration – Walk of Names
There’s a park near where I live that has a section of path paved with bricks that have names carved in them. They are names of donors for the various things within the park, like the amphitheater and the Vietnam War memorial, and some of them are very old, and some are more recent. During one of my walks this past week, while thinking about my project, I had an idea for something similar within the foil character’s ship. All soldier groups end up creating some way of memorializing the fallen, whether that’s walls with carved names or fields of white crosses or dog tags or photos or whatever. For the as yet unnamed foil character, I think it might be interesting for his culture to carve the names of the fallen into the floor, as a kind of “we walk because they fell” reminder. And this may create cultural conflict between him and Roselia, because treading on things can have a negative connotation.
I haven’t even met this character and yet he’s already leading with some very interesting conflicts. I am excited to meet him on the page (even if it won’t be for while judging by how slow I’m writing).
Thoughts to share? I have a contact page now!