Novel Writing Nov. 12 Update

I was afraid that having to fill in scenes and flesh out details would slow me down this month because I'd have to think them through first and make sure it fits within what I've already written before I write.

I was wrong. I hit the halfway point on Nov. 8. If I keep up the pace, I'm looking to hit 50k sometime next week.

I'm having a lot of fun refining my magic system and the world. It feels a lot more solid and grounded to me instead of floating around vaguely while I hoped it worked. I've also decided to write scenes in other characters' points of view, particularly my villain so that I can get to know her better. I stuck pretty closely to my main character's point of view the first time. She didn't really know what was going on so it was easy to hand wave events. This time, I do have to know what actually happened to inhabit the other characters' points of view.

My other word count strength is dialogue. If I get several characters in conversation, I can chew through words pretty easily. I'll sit down to write, get a few people talking and there went 500 words, a quarter of my daily goal. I even remember to put in actions in between their conversation. A pair of my characters love to tease each other - they're a lot of fun to write.

I've hit a tricky part of the story so the next few days might be dicey. I think I'm going to have to ditch the location of the last half of my story and write in a completely new place. It should be interesting.

With that, I'll leave the rest of this post to an excerpt from my current story. I wrote this scene on Nov. 5. Hope you enjoy!

Excerpt:

It was well past dark when Evrhiel stepped into the Smith’s Buckler tavern by the docks. She had already sent Lysanna and Geoff in different directions to find other potential ears. “Drazehn only,” she had said. “They’re the best at this task and I don't want to risk having this fall into less trustworthy hands.” She paused a moment to allow her eyes to get used to the brighter interior before moving to corner table near the door that was unoccupied. The room was not particularly crowded. Several tables were shoved together on the left seating a group of blacksmith apprentices and a blacksmith or two. Another smaller group on the right looked like other locals. Several tables scattered here and there were singly or doubly occupied. She concentrated on the singly occupied tables for a few minutes before determining the one she was looking for. She made no pretense about sauntering over to her target’s table and claiming an empty seat.

The occupant of the table did not move to acknowledge her presence. He had chosen a seat that kept him mostly hidden in shadow. He wore dark clothes and wore his hat low on his forehead even indoors. He certainly acted like a good candidate for the Drazehn that she was expecting. Before saying a word, she laid a gold coin on the table and slid it across. That garnered some movement from the man. He picked it up and deliberately dropped it back on the table. Satisfied, he pocketed it.

“You have my attention,” he drawled a melodious baritone and Evrhiel knew she had the right man.

“I expect something in return for that coin,” she began.

“Well I wasn’t assuming that you handed me gold for my looks alone,” he said taking a sip from the glass in front of him.

“I want to know information around two subjects. One is if anyone is asking around about me. The other is if anyone is asking around about a noble lady’s recent death. In either case, I want to know who.”

The man inclined his head, “And how many more such coins are you willing to part with for that information? These questions seem somewhat indefinite and could take some time.”

“For delivery of the information, I’d be willing to part with 25 gold.”

“That’s a middling sum for information that may never appear,” he mused.

“So if you don’t hear anything, you don’t get paid. I don’t see that this is a problem.”

He shrugged, “And it doesn’t become a high priority for me to keep listening past, let’s say three days. I’m a busy man and I’ve many other potential jobs I could fulfill instead of waiting around for only the possibility of 25 gold.”

“You have that coin I already gave you,” Evrhiel dug around in the coin pouch at her waist and deposited another stack of gold coins. “And I’ll add this to it.”

He counted, then nodded slightly. “I’ll call that incentive enough. But I’ll need names, more specifically yours and your dearly departed.”

In answer to that, Evrhiel slid over a folded piece of paper. “The first is my name. The second is the departed. I will be in town for only a few more days, but I will still pay on the information should it take longer than that. The final name and inn is where you can find my associate after I leave town. It is also the same inn where I can be found now should you be so industrious as to find the knowledge I seek sooner rather than later.” She paused to let him read over the slip of paper. “You’ll be throwing that in the fire.”

He rose smoothly from his seat and paced towards the fire along the wall. In the firelight, she saw that he was clad in browns rather than black. The hat firmly upon his head did not allow the benefit of illumination. Once he was seated again, he said, “I think we have an agreement, Mistress.”

“Save for your name,” she replied.

He turned his head to regard her in silence. Then he finally came to a decision and intoned, “Bruvier.”

She stood at that, “Then our business here is concluded. Good eve.” As Evrhiel left the tavern, she knew there were eyes that followed her out the door, but none so curious as the man still in the shadows, twirling a gold coin across his knuckles.