This evening, I rewrote one of the major turning points of my novel. Most of the reason is that it was too "nice", if you know what I mean. There wasn't enough conflict and it was much too clean. The scene takes place in a Civil War hospital tent and those weren't necessarily nice places to be. It was reeking, there were amputations and surgeries going on...not to mention the rising pile of amputated limbs outside. I went back through and made my character feel more shocked and confused at being in such a situation--after all, he's from the 21st century and thinks it's all a reenactment. Why wouldn't he be confused?
I'm trying to get this novel edited in time for a contest that I'd like to enter, but frankly, I'm not sure I'll be done in time. The deadline is exactly 13 day away and I'm only halfway through Chapter 3. I have 16 more to go and that's assuming I don't add anything.
Even if I don't get to enter the contest, I think it's good that I'm forcing myself to work on this. I have a deadline and I tend to function much better when I have a deadline or a goal I'm working towards. And, if nothing else, I'll have draft #2 of One Thirty-Six when I'm finished, instead of just my raw, rough draft.
Some quotes from today:
"I glanced at my rescuer. He has a beard. I want a beard." --Eli/Elijah Walker, Chapter 3
"I stumbled forward as best I could, dizzy and weak form the loss of blood. Black started to play at the edges of my vision. Someone in the background screamed “Retreat!” Oh, what a lawsuit they’re going to have. Black started to play at the edges of my vision and I drifted into nothingness."--Chapter 3
" She stared at me, bewildered.
“Eye-bee-pro-fin?” she sounded out the word. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what
you’re talking about. I’ve never heard of that before.”
My mouth dropped open in shock, but I
quickly closed it again. “You don’t know what ibuprofen is?”
“No, sir. I am sorry.”
I’ve been shot and she insists keeping up
this act? “Okay, knock the act off. Look, you’re doing a lovely job of
keeping in character and everything, but this has gone too far. I want to go to
a real hospital, I want real pain medicine that everyone knows about and I want
everyone around here to stop acting!” my voice had risen to a shout at this
point."--Eli and nurse dialogue, Chapter 3 (my personal favorite part)
