There were always going to be a few knotty sections in a mash-up of six novellas as the original plan was to tell the stories of each of the point-of-view characters separately. That intention got shoved to the wayside when Kes fell for Ahni and there threatened to be a lot of interaction. I let it happen, I confess. I wanted to see how the romance would pan out.
One by one the rest of the characters joined the fray. It seemed to go all right. I’m a pantser by nature, the kind of writer who slides by the seat of her pants, without too much planning. Like all pantsers I thought I could write myself out of any problem. ‘Pantser’, by the way, sounds uncomfortably like ‘Pantzer’ which I seem to remember is a type of artillery tank. Lol, one of those writers just pushes their way through! Or they tank in a deep wide trench!
We are now at a place where three viewpoint characters are in play—well, waiting in the wings—with another taking the stage. And he had to. Because if he isn’t at the appointed place at the right time, Srese will fail to be in the right place and time to meet Ahni and Kes.
This is Scrim I’m talking about, of course. He was one of the first characters who stepped into this saga, and that with just the two words at the end of his story. But don’t worry, a lot of new-miles, hours and days will be told before he says them. Most characters jump into their stories with a couple of lines of dialogue relating to their beginnings or middle events. Then it’s up to me to connect them.
Also, Scrim needs to meet up with Rockeater Ridge’s remaindered avatar. Remember him? Some of you may want to catch up with Sard before that happens. Link to Chapter One
There’s advice everywhere for budding novelists about the no-no of writing dialects. And yet, I wanted to try it. I wanted to see if it really would become a chore that readers would rather do without. Let me know if you hate Scrim’s turn of phrase?
Lol—as a reader—I just reviewed a book [link] where that became a chore very fast. My authorial defense for Scrim in Lodestar is that most of Scrim’s words are modern-day English, and it’s just that their combinations need interpreting.
Finally, if you know anything at all about sailors carving leopard seal tusks, and how the products are called scrimshaw, you will have been wondering about Scrim’s name. My lips are sealed. All will be revealed in the goodness of time.
Rita de Heer 