Current location:	A mountainside in Remgarde
Current mood:	tired
Current music:	HIM - "Sleepwalking past hope"

Treading the path

Novel progress so far:

15,351 / 120,000 (12.8%)

It's been another good week, novel-wise. I've managed to meet my 500-words-a-day target once again, and have surpassed this on quite a few days. The weekend was particularly productive, with an entire chapter being written on Friday night and another whole chapter being completed over Saturday and Sunday. I feel like I'm well into the groove now. More importantly, I feel like I want to write and that makes such a difference. 

Already there is a marked contrast between my progress on this novel when compared to my last project. My consistancy was nowhere near as good last time around; I'd write 1000 words one day, then have a couple of days where nothing got done, then write 2000 words in a day, then nothing for a few more days, then 500 words and so on... This time, hitting a minimum of 500 words a day has just been great for progress, but also for the actual process. I feel far more switched on and motivated. I'm determined not to slip and have a day where I don't write, because I know I could end up falling back into old habits. Just over 15,000 words in two weeks is good enough reason to not start slacking. Friday might be a problem as I'm travelling to London on business, but I'll try to get some writing done on the train. The company's sending me first class, so I'll get plenty of peace and quiet. 

As for the story, Lukan found himself framed for a murder he didn't commit. He was hauled before a magistrate, found guilty, and hanged that same afternoon...only to be cut down just before he choked to death. Luckily for him, his neck didn't snap. Lucky for me too, otherwise we'd have a pretty short novel. Hmmm, now that I think of it, that might be a good thing...Anyway, his life was saved by Magnus, the very same fellow who accosted Lukan the previous night and seemed like a potential problem. Appearances can be deceiving. Magnus didn't just save Lukan for no reason; Lukan will find out in due course that he is to travel north to Longhorn Watch, one of the most northerly colonies, to serve as a scout. The idea is that Lukan will find the direction that his life has been missing,  the sense of purpose he has looked so hard for, but then it'll all be torn away from him, leaving him rather angry and caught up in a nasty conflict that is far more complex than it looks. 

It's nice when writing suprises you, which is what happened to me this week when Rat popped up out of nowhere. Lukan needed to find out which of the merchants were heading south so he could travel with them (the road south from Mordvayne to Ember isn't safe). While I was pondering how he would go about this, a little street urchin popped up and tried to pickpocket him. Lukan caught him in the act, and rather than handing him over to the guards, he paid Rat to find out the information he needs. Rat then went on to play a crucial role in the murder trial (he was blackmailed into giving evidence against Lukan) and he will accompany Lukan to the colony. The two will become quite close, with the idea that Rat will eventually die (for a bit of emotional turmoil). I've really come to like Rat, he's a cheeky little scamp with a good heart, but he'd serve no real purpose beyond that which I've intended for him. Then again, you never know. 

The only other thing of note is that Jharn, the clansman POV character is no more. I decided that having three POV characters who were all male and all roughly the same age might be both difficult and possibly a bit dull. I've made Graven the POV character from the clan side, and I'm already enjoying writing his scenes. I feel that he and his companion Barusk are two of the strongest characters I have so far, so I want to make maximum use of them. By getting rid of Jharn, I can do this. 

I'm having second thoughts about the prologue; I'm currently using an amended version of the old one. Having written chapters one and two, I'm wondering whether they serve as better openings. The writing I feel is superior in both chapters to the prologue. We'll have to see. At the moment, I feel that every new chapter I write is better than the last, leading me to think "Hmm, maybe this could be the start of the novel!" Still, no need to worry about this yet. Such things can be resolved when the first draft of the whole damn thing is done. 

So far, so good.