Creative Diversions

Last week was, to say the least, a bit unusual. A bit of a technical glitch among emails (most of a morning's worth was not received) led to a misunderstanding, albeit one that quickly got resolved. During the misunderstanding, however, I was left somewhat confused.

 

Anyway, time to get back into the blogging again, and today it's about the book. I'm in the midst of writing, and two things have come up in recent days. They've been in the form of changes.

 

The first is a character name. Devon has had her name changed. It's not as difficult a process as you'd think, since I'm using her last name in much of the text thus far anyway. I wasn't happy with the name Helen for her. So I've changed it over to Meredith. It's a name I've always liked, and it seems to suit her. In compensation, I've assigned the Helen name over to a CIA official, Helen Carmody (who has yet to appear as of this point, but she'll only be making a couple of appearances in the book anyway). And so Meredith Devon it is, and Meredith Devon it shall stay. At least unless I change my mind again.

 

The other change concerns my terrorist group, the Covenant. As the story has required it, the group has been kept to a small number. I had intended it to be ten in all, and when I was first writing, the length of the chapter itself seemed to be telling me to narrow it down. So I left it at eight. It was bothering me ever since, up to a few days ago. Not to give too much away here, but towards the end of the book, the odds would be too even with just eight! Can't say more then that; I've sworn myself to secrecy. And so I've gone back into chapter three, and added two more members into the mix. It's better to get it done now, rather then towards the end when I realize I really do need extra players. Cutting and pasting at that point might well feel like, oh... adding Nikki and Paolo into Lost for no reason at all. At any rate, both of the additions have been given backstory and motivation that fits in with their colleagues, and the additional text doesn't pad the chapter too much. So they stay.

Until I decide I need five more villains appearing out of nowhere.