Structure

[khiemtran]

Now that I'm clearer on the use of the memoir voice for the Silver Bowl, I've had a new insight into structure. There's always been a bit of a problem at the start where the story seems to begin, then begin again, then really begin, then pause a bit... Using the idea of the memoir voice, I think I can see a new structure where each chapter represents a gate to be passed through, with the protagonist's world widening a little each time. This solves some of the problems of pacing and chronology - some chapters will cover only days and others may cover years, but hopefully the effect will be to create an illusion of constant building.

It does mean that one of the events that used to happen at the start of a chapter (Masamee and Mura's arrival) now belongs at the end of one - which may require a new story or interlude to be added in front. This is probably not a bad thing. It does give me more room for worldbuilding and gives me a chance to describe the setting at a more leisurely pace. It's interesting that a lot of the things I've been trying before this have been to do with shortening that chapter and moving the scene even closer to the start.

It also means some radical changes further downstream, but I'm not really happy with the pacing in middle section anyway.

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a breakthrough from here. Congratulations! I love it when a story comes together...

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Well... I've had enough false dawns with this story to know I've still got a long way to go. I suspect I'll probably have either the Clay Boy Story or the Bear Story finished first, even though this one has already been through three drafts.