The Other: Home Stretch

Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at 5:36pm

My first draft of The Other is sitting at 58,000 words. We are now well past the point where I might decide that this novel has gone off the rails. The end is in sight, and I have a clear path to the finish line. My guess is that I will be able finish the first draft off sometime tomorrow afternoon.

One of my more interesting revelations during this particular writing process has been about characters. There are two main characters in this novel, Sahaan Ekeer, the Senior Consul to the President of the Reclamation, and Charles, the Deranged who appears in human form inside the Reclamation's walls. My typical process with major characters is to jot down background notes for them before starting, then fleshing out the details of their personalities as they interact with other characters.

In this novel, Charles was truly a surprise for me. He gets to spend a good chunk of the novel scared, confused, and also frequently asleep. It's in this final act of the novel that he really comes into his own, and I discovered aspects to him that I didn't intend when starting out, but which now wholly make sense, since that's simply how he would behave. This is the first time I've had a character develop organically in interesting ways, congruent with my initial intent, but not entirely what I first imagined, either.

I'm thinking about possibly trying to get this one published before the end of the year instead of in early 2020. Watch this space for updates.