Almost There

The odd thing about this book is that it was supposed to be set in Ireland. And I don't think we're getting there until chapter eight.

Maybe sooner, but not much. In fact I see now that it could be a much longer book. If I were doing it as a Special Edition or a single title, we'd be just about at the halfway point when we get to Ireland. But inasmuch as it's a Presents, it's going to have to be very tightly focused on the relationship and less on the other stuff that would also be a part of a bigger book.

I'm not sure I think that's the best use of the story, but it's what I've committed to, so it's what I've got. And having a focus is good, really. It keeps things from wandering all over. I must admit I'd like to be able to bring in more of the Irish stuff -- and the people and the story of what goes on there. Flynn's brother is an interesting guy. We may yet see more of him in a later book.

It's interesting, too, how little the collage actually had anything to do with the final book. I suppose that it should have told me something when I never put New York City in it at all, that New York wasn't important. And I did manage to get in a tiny piece of Montana.

At least I got the focus on the people right because really that's what it's all about. People. Relationships. It would be interesting to make a collage after the fact and see what I come up with then.

But in fact I think I like Twyla Tharp's box idea better. It's not so static. It's a place where I can gather stuff and sift through it and find connections.

I'm not a spatially visual person. So I probably do better when I have a box full of stuff (my mother would certainly agree with that!) than everything neat on a page, even if it's a big page.

It was fun to do the collage, but I'm thinking I'll try a box for the next one. Whose story will it be, I wonder? One of the Savas and Antonides bunch? Peter, perhaps? Or George, the physicist who locked himself in the lab when Theo was taking over my blog?

Or maybe Flynn's brother, Dev? Or Sara's sister, Lizzie? Or someone else entirely.

Possibilities abound. I'm getting exciting just thinking about it. But first I've got to finish this one. A week or two should do it. I hope.