Gaining Pathfinder Steam

Yesterday I finally turned the corner on the new Pathfinder novel I’m writing. My writing process means that I go on with a very detailed plan, then write the book almost like a screenplay, mostly with dialogue before going back in to fill it up with description. What that means, though, is that I can’t be sure how well it’s really going until later in the process. As recently as Monday I was still worried about whether or not I could pull this off and get it to have the tone I was looking for, maintain the pace, and develop the character arcs.

By end-of-day Thursday I finally had the first three chapters clicking along properly, and now some of the middle sections are falling into place. Because it’s gained momentum and I’m now better acquainted with all the characters, little scenes and more climactic chapter conclusions are popping out of thin air.

It’s still going to be a bit of a challenge to wrap the whole thing up in the next two weeks, but I’m starting to think I can pull it off, and I’m pretty sure now that this is going to be the most exciting, moving Pathfinder novel I’ve yet written, with the most fully realized characters.

Anyway. Talking about writing is probably kind of boring unless you’re really into writing, so I’m going to send you to two interesting links.

First, a fascinating oasis town in the Americas that must be seen to be believed. Really, my description wouldn’t do it justice. It’s so cool it looks like a film set. You can see one image of it at the top of my blog. Go look at some more.

Second, here’s an ancient city famous for its libraries that now lies almost completely abandoned due to the encroaching Sahara sands. Martin Page pointed me to this one, and it’s one of the most fascinating real-life adventure sites I’ve heard about in years.