Backdated entry on the train - rambling about writing

[narcasse]

Having finished off “Little Cruelties” finally, I’m a bit surprised to look back over the dates for each section and find that it’s take me the best part of two months to write a total of 11374 words/roughly 19 pages. I knew it had taken some time but I didn’t quite expect it to be a two month project, then again that fact makes me want to go back and look over “Mind Games” and possibly the entire “Order” series to see how long that too to write. I’m not sure that “Mind Games” was quite so long or really took that sort of length of time since the content was somewhat easier to write. There’s something to be said for writing a tongue-in-cheek gender-swapping Agent in comparison to writing an intense battle of wits between two ruthless characters. Because at the end of the day the Devil’s Strategist is exactly as cruel and ruthless as his enemies, if not more so. Then again so, probably is Agent Smith but because he isn’t human it seems to make it easier to accept. Anyway, I’m glad that the story finished up the way that’d I’d initially planned. Sometimes they don’t, they just start off and then take an entirely different twist, sometimes leaving me with the very inconvenient problem of trying to tie up loose ends in the final chapters which would have resolved themselves if it had turned out the way I expected. And of course, in the chapters towards the end, when everything is accelerating towards the conclusion and I think I’ve got definite things that need to be included, then I end up worrying that between the important points I’m just writing filler. Still, while worrying about that I somehow managed to finish up “Little Cruelties” with a two section ending sequence, which I was pleased with since I’d given myself a three section limit. Again in comparison to “Mind Games” which ended up with a three section ending followed by an epilogue, I’m pleased it, since in all fairness, “Mind Games” had a handful of main characters that needed to have some resolution, while the action in “Little Cruelties” took place in one location mainly and really only involved two people who needed an absolute resolution. And after I’ve submitted that for the Arslan ML competition at the start of next month, I’ve a feeling that I’m going to be writing more relating to Zahak’s servant.