Word count for book three is now above five thousand.
(So much for Paul’s declaration, after finishing book two, that he was going to take a short break from writing. A few days ago, he commented that if he wrote nothing else this year, he’d still average five hundred words per day for all of 2022.)
He ran into a minor problem with scene sequence/pacing this morning, but that seems to have been resolved. At this point in the story, there are essentially two separate threads, with two of the major characters in one and three in the other. Paul has been alternating between the two, because it’s important to show that the characters not in the “daring rescue” thread haven’t stopped existing, he says, just because the author’s favorite character is elsewhere. The copyeditor has a favorite character or two in this story, as well. One of them probably doesn’t mind at all that he’s being “ignored” by the author, at least to the point of not being the one in a dangerous situation right now, …or so he thinks. *wicked author’s-twin laughter*
The “something about a coffee mug” part is Grace’s doing. When Paul told us his plans for the next few chapters of this book, she replied with a laugh, “Oh, no, she’s gonna give him that coffee mug, isn’t she?” And yes, she is. Maybe not right away, but sooner or later — that was never in question. (She means Brygida, a character who entered the story near the end of the first book in this series.)
Possibly at this very moment, Paul is writing about his favorite character rescuing a friend from the clutches of an evil scientist. No, I mean actually evil, not insane but well-meaning — that scientist is in the other story thread now, and the worst thing she’s doing is going on a wild shopping spree. She has a good reason, though: two of her friends lost almost everything in their house while they were out of the country for a year, and they need help replacing at least the essentials. Sounds rather quotidian, doesn’t it? I sure hope so, anyway. I did say this was the “return to the normal world” part of the story for these characters… It won’t last, though; it never does, because the definition of normal keeps changing.
Paul is amazingly industrious this year. Impressive. Your tidbits are damn enticing. Cheers
LikeLiked by 1 person