SP2 is a slippery little bugger

by Suw on September 10, 2003

SP1 was a fairly easy thing to write. It all just kinda tumbled out into a first draft that I was happy with, although I knew it still needed work. SP2 is not being so accommodating. Yesterday and today I've been suffering from an attack of the isitcrap’s. It's one of those moods where you just have to write through it, just put your head down and get on with it, because if you listen to that little voice that's telling you that what you're doing is shite, you'll give up and never go back to it. So you have to plough on regardless and hope that you'll come out the other side soon.

Part of me is toying with the idea of sending it to maybe a sympathetic friend or two for opinions, but then, I don't really want to get into rewriting what I have yet, and I know there are holes that need filling and dialogue that's a bit iffy, so I'd really only be sending it to them in the hope that they'll say 'Yes, this is worth carrying on with', and deep down, I believe that already. So what would be the point, apart from trying to subtly (ok, not so subtly now I've discussed it here!) coerce them into buoying up my ego with pretty words.

I suppose this one's more difficult because it's not so much about action and adventure, as SP1 was, but more about people and emotion. It's much more character-driven, and that means it's much harder work. I can't just chuck in a sword-fight every time I get a bit lost for something to say. I know exactly what I'm trying to achieve with it, what the themes are, how the characters must develop, what they must go through. But I'm just not so sure how to translate that well onto the page.

I'm a little worried that there's too much exposition, that the dialogue is 'on the nose' dialogue (i.e. unnatural and explains way too much). I'm also a little worried that the lead character is actually turning into a bit of an annoying git.

But, because I'm me and because I'm a stubborn old cow really (and you thought I was just persistent…), I will continue with this, and I'm sure that in due course it will all come out ok. But the birthing pains for SP2 are a wake-up call. I may be up to page 40, but not one of them has been easy to write.

Maybe I should stick to action/adventure.

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