Oh, my beautiful 1500 words. *sigh* Well, honestly, they weren't all that good. I was getting very frustrated with Quin's point of view narrating this scene (May 5, 18). It just wasn't working. It made Martin far too antagonistic, and gave Ivolet far too much...I don't know...backbone, I guess. She was doing her violet-eyed stare, and Martin was being all moody. I try so hard for my lovely Sapphire to be encouraging and upbeat. But his country is at war, he's doing a terrible job as king, and I don't really blame him for suspecting her of stealing the crown. I would have suspected her. But I'm an Emerald, and I really shouldn't be imposing myself on poor Martin.
Anyway, it was a terrible chapter. The dialogue was the sort of dialogue that you get when you - honestly - have no idea where you're going. You just keep the conversation going, in very American style, and hope that someone will say something that makes you go, "Oh, of course! That's it. What a perfect lead-in!"
That happens about, oh, five percent of the time. The other ninety-five percent is just really crappy writing. Normally, I would just glance over it. I might write the next chapter assuming that I'd changed it when I really hadn't. But this is my second draft, and I vowed I wouldn't do that. That was what the first draft was for. This is for actual reading, and no one, not even myself, wants to read pointless dialogue.
A big problem was actually Quin's point of view doing the narration. It forced me to call Ivolet, Violet, which totally threw things for a loop. Very confusing to the reader, honestly. And I kept typing 'Ivolet' instead of 'Violet.' Very confusing to me, too. The story is about Ivolet; it's her story. And if she is in the scene, I want to know what she's thinking! The only person who is qualified, and who knows her well enough to pass judgment on my Ivolet is Daniel. He likes her. Quin, who hasn't seen Ivolet in ten years, is what is called not qualified.
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