Happy Blog Day Everyone!
Today I'll talk about what I should have talked about last week, that of my NanoWriMo entry that while complete, is sorely lacking (in my eyes).
Before that depressing talk though, we'd better see how Riz is getting on...
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
The penultimate part is here. I'm quite happy with myself for how I've managed to pace this arc. Gives me confidence that I can do another one...though not for a while yet!
As you can tell from the number, we're getting closer and closer to #53 which will mark a full year of the Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz...doesn't feel like it!
What Went Wrong With My NanoWriMo
This hasn't been an easy article to write. I've been churning it over in my head.
To remind everyone, I decided to do Avalon Tales as my NanoWriMo this year, hoping to do at least one novella (with the hope of starting the second as well).
This didn't happen, for a couple of reasons as I've explained before. However, all the other times, I've never went into detail about what happened on the story side of things that made me lose faith in my writing skills.
Let's start at the beginning.
When it came to choose my NanoWriMo, my choices were limited to what I'd put the groundwork in already. If done a lot of work for Avalon Tales, trying to tie together the Arthurian imagery better, so it seemed like a no brainer to pick that.
I stuck close to the plan, and at first, things were going well then I hit chapter 5...
The first two chapters are set up, showing where Isabelle’s (the main character) place in the world and within Avalon and introduces her supporting cast. Chapters 3 and 4 bring in the novellas main plot and a character bringing the antagonistical role, Rainer, who hailed from Avalon’s main headquarters in the first draft. Things started slipping here. It started with small things I'd overlooked in the plot and pacing within scenes. It came to a head in chapter 6 which was supposed to be Isabelle’s new team Baptism of fire upon the battlefield. It became clear that things weren't working as the story ground to a halt. My main issue became that the story I was trying to tell, was longer than the Novella format I was wanting.
Draft 1 went in the bin, and draft 2 started with Chapter 7. My aim was to link the two up in editing. The characters largely stayed the same but Rainer changed into the Knight Master of the North East Branch as I tried to simply the plot. Speaking of which I shifted the action to Isabelle and her team searching for the mcguffin and eventually tracking it down to a factory which would serve as the last battground. For a moment, I thought I had it
The problems reared their ugly head again. The new characters were still not working with the plot and their actions seemed forced. More and more plot holes started poking through so I embarked on draft 3, in order to try and save things.
It didn't work.
Following this I made even more changes. I took away Isabelle’s squad and replced then with Robyn (Isabelle’s girlfriend) and Cade Anderson (a Knight Inquisitor who was only supposed to be evaluating the North East Branch of Avalon). I also promoted Ramona to Knight Master of the North East Branch a story early, dropping Rainer completely. This is where the story fell apart I spent the rest of NanoWriMo rewriting, trying to get bits to fit.
As it stands, the story is a Frankensteins monster, but it doesn't equal the sum of its parts.
What will happen next with Avalon Tales? I don't know. I want to completely start fresh with it and hopefully get it to where I want
That's all for now, sorry for boring you all!
Till next time,
Keep on writing.
Peter James Martin
Quick Links
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat
The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2
Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1
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