Gearjammer

Over the weekend while in Massachusetts (which I will talk about more pretty soon), I fixed that last nagging problem with Chapter 3. It took me about an hour of hard work sitting at the kitchen table to hammer three paragraphs into decent shape, but I did it, by god, and now it works a lot better. I finally got to Borders today to type that up, because both Guinevere and now Cinderella (and possibly others who may or may not want cool nicknames for the sake of this blog) are waiting for chapters to read. It's good to have fans.

Anyway, getting through that pricker bush of exposition leaves only the long dance between Alyssa and Kelly that ends the chapter, and I blasted through most of that while I was there. I only have about a page and a half left and that chapter is toast. That particular conversation ranks among one of my favorite extended talk sequences in any chapter, not only because those two characters have such a nice dynamic, but because there is so much going on between the two of them right there, and there is so much information flying by, and it sets up so much ... it's a miracle I could pull all that off. It's really only matched by the chapter length card game, which is coming up later.

I did look ahead to Chapter 4, just to refresh myself on how the scenes break down, and because that's the last chapter that my newest reader has read (I think). This chapter is where the usual format of a long chapter broken into three to five different scenes is first set down, and along the way I introduce some of my favorite supporting characters. Gwen, Kelly's second-in-command, first appears here, as does the work setting (which is in dire need of alteration). Ben, Kelly's best friend, debuts in what will become a typical Kelly and Ben sort of scene, and of course it's set at the Diner. And Kelly's kid sister, Laurel, also makes her first appearance, albeit by telephone. All three are a joy to write.

Emma doesn't show up until Chapter 5, although she's mentioned in 3 and talked about in 4, which is pretty typical of the book. All three of the characters mentioned in the last paragraph were also first mentioned a chapter before they show up in the book. I think Chapter 5 is also the debut of Willow, another of my favorite characters, if only because any character based on Meredith is going to be hilarious in her own way. I can't remember about Alexis, but she might not show up until Chapter Six. And that's just the tip of the iceburg. There's a huge amount of speaking parts, walk-ons, and characters that are mentioned but never appear (Vera style -- Colleen and I were just talking about that this weekend).

But to make a long story short, I'm going to hammer the crap out of these chapters so I can get them out to my readership.

And thank you all.