(no subject)

I've barely touched The Hunt for 6-7 months now. Although the rewrite was going well and the crits were encouraging, something has been holding me back and I think I've finally figured out what was/is wrong:

1. I haven't got Adric's character yet. He is a cardboard figure doing his thing only because I tell him to.

2. The whole novel is messy - too many characters and too many parallel stories. Naina (Cerne) struggling to hold things together in Tir Dara is taking up too much page-space, Eric's romance with the Dragon Rider is juicy, but not vital to the story. In fact, Eric is not vital to the story. His dilemma is just another take of Adric's dilemma.


Fix: Focus mainly on Adric and get rid of Eric. Start listening to my characters and let them fill in their roles instead of pressing them into a fixed template. Ronan has been incompetent from the very beginning, the other characters have not been happy with him and yet I have insisted that he fill the role as almost infallible army-general.

(no subject)

I think the neighbour's baby is teething. It's been crying more than usual for almost two weeks. :(

C and I will be going to Denmark for a few days. My aunt Pippi (nickname) is celebrating her 60th birthday, so it'll be a perfect opportunity to catch up with the family. I haven't been home for more than a year. It's storm/orkan season in Denmark - hopefully the weather will be just average windy when we arrive - C is not too keen on the wind in Denmark.

Spent the day tidying up the place and drawing. It has been a quiet day (apart from the neighbour's baby), just like when I first moved to Switzerland.