Notes

Alright! Just shy of a day behind on the wordcount. I snuck in an hour or so of writing last night before bedtime, which helped a little. I wrote a little extra today, and hopefully can squeak some more in. If not.. well, I'm off work on Monday and Tuesday, which are the last two days of November. ;)

The Official NaNoWriMo Word Counter usually tells me I have fewer words than I'd thought (every word count works differently) - I just found a forum thread that explains what Open Office's issue is. It likes to count the end-quotation marks as a word. This can be fixed by turning off the smart-quotes-like feature, so the quotes all stay straight instead of curly.

...unfortunately, mine are already all curly. I have a TON of conversation in the novel this year. I miiight go in and find-and-replace the quotes, but... more likely, I'll just write extra, cross my fingers, use the official word count, swear and fume and spew out a few hundred more words, and then hopefully hit 50k. Next year maybe I'll set it up properly from the start, and avoid the annual trauma.


On another topic - yes, I forgot about Cerise too. ^^; I've already made note to bring her into the middle areas of the story more, sometime when re-writing. I need more female characters! And she's a lovely little contrast to everyone else. Also, she will be a catalyst for the closing scenes, and.. well, she was in my dream that gave me the opening scene at the rose party. So, she stays, and needs to gain enough presence to merit staying. I have no idea why Luce, of all people, is her escort, but that's what he demanded of me this morning.

I'm glad I thought of a way for them to die, but be incapable of dying. I think it's a good balance. They need to be generally immortal, but... I suspect Veri ought to die, and it's going to break my heart to do that to Meres. Honestly, they were supposed to have a happy sweet little reunion like two scenes after the rose party! I have no idea what is happening to them, but it's making me really, really sad. It was supposed to be the love between the two of them that was the bright spot in the story...

Notes

I only sort-of cheated on that beast of a chapter. In the re-workings of the behemoth from the first draft, I had, as mentioned, decided to move some chunks around. What I didn't realize, until I went to work on this one today, was that this chunk? Was originally written from Carey's viewpoint, and Meres was his companion. Which means that everything Carey said, Meres was now saying, and everything Meres did in reaction, Azal was now doing.

So, I basically re-wrote the entire thing. I kept the old stuff at the bottom of the screen for reference, and so some of the content was kept (i.e., they said much of the same things as before), but the wording, the setting, all that was changed. What Meres' reactions would have been are not what Azal's would be. And then I added in lots, took some things out, moved a sentence I liked out of a paragraph I cut...

I have no idea how this was all accomplished today. Let's not discuss today, it was not a happy evening, except for the amazingness of my coworkers.

I am likely going to cheat my way out of naming the actual books they're looking at, at least for November. Enoch, I need to re-read before adding much detail here. And I suppose I should look into the Babylonian stuff some more as well, I haven't read anything directly, apart from Gilgamesh (which I also should re-read).

Two things about this chunk that are making me superhappy right now:
1) Giving myself a freaking sweet loophole, in the line about how a single mispronounced syllable in an incantation can screw the whole thing up. I'd been worrying more and more about how close the names I've used for the characters are to the grigori listed in Enoch. Meres - Meresin? really? he forgot that? But I think the point I made is a really good one, and enough to stand on.

2) Azalya. Only Meres would call Azal this. I am so in love with this pet name. (Once at home with internet, I double-checked the meaning of azaleas - an unintended connection. Romance and temperance. Which at first made me laugh, that seemed so far off... but then I realized, maybe not? Because Azal shows extreme temperance in his romances - he keeps things strictly physical, and does not let his emotions become attached, after having been stricken so hard after his first human love.)

I. Love. This. Story.

Notes - characters

Sometime after the 2007 NaNo, I wrote a short scene between Meres and Veri, where Veri yells at Meres for abandoning him during the rose party, and thus humiliating him. Then they make up and are all sweet and loveydovey, and it was really beautiful to see the love between them, set against all the selfish fixations of the others.

I had planned to stick this into the story long before now. But somehow... there wasn't enough for it to have the impact I'd wanted. So I kept stringing out Veri being angry at Meres, trying to build it up more.

Then Claude stepped into that little conflict at the mermaid party, and I suddenly realized he was trying to break them up, and have Meres for himself, not thinking Veri worth Meres' effort. Which is when the idea popped up for Claude to confront Veri, which sounded fun to write.

Yet, after writing that bit yesterday, it felt.. flat, like not much was accomplished in the scene. I decided Luce should step in and do some meddling. Which he was, as always, more than happy to do.

I knew Meres would be annoyed that Veri didn't come to the play - but I realized this morning just how deeply upset he could be. "The Nightingale and The Rose" (which I summarized poorly - the language in the original is so heartbreakingly lovely, go to Gutenberg and read it, preferably from the pdf at archive.org with the stunning illustrations) is--- wow, good morning run-on parenthesis. The story is about Love in its purest sort of form, self-sacrifice for the happiness of another - the nightingale gives up her life, that Love might have a chance to flourish in the heart of another.

Given that the Grigori were once angels, and thus beings of pure compassion, and now are fallen from that and trying to forget their better natures... I suspect the story will have more than the usual poignancy. Meres in particular... I have a hunch he really, really wanted Veri to hear that story, told, visually at least, by Meres. I haven't sorted out all the rational yet, but... I think Meres is going to be seriously heartbroken.

I suspect that make-up scene in the garden is going to need some hefty re-writing. I'd never intended Meres and Veri to almost lose each other, but I'm afraid that's where it might be going. Wheeee drama!

Note

I was in such a rut this morning - it felt like one of two scenes should happen next, and they were both ones I'd already written. xp Luckily, it took some setup to reach where I wanted to stick in Azal watching his dancer in the garden.

If that scene seems familiar... It's a re-edited version of "Fuschia", which I posted over on Amaranth and Jasmine whenever it was I wrote it. Unfortunately, I think I had Meres in mind when I wrote it, because I'd originally made a reference to Azal in the thing. A few other minor changes were made this morning, but... it was really pretty. I wanted Azal to have a moment of comfort after all his recent trauma. (Especially as he has more coming, the poor dear.)

I'm not entirely confident it's properly in his voice, but I have more trouble with his voice than anyone else's. Meres - artistic commentary. Veri - whiny. Luce - devious and philosophical. Mephisto - daydreamy and theatrical. (I am still swooned from last night's chapter. I am so in love.) Adir - uh, a non-voice, largely. I still go back and forth as to whether he should get anything from his pov at all, but, I'm a bit attached to the contrast. Also, there's a scene I wrote him (or Nila, or Carey, I forget) for the original 2007 version, coming up soon I think, that had some elements I really, really liked. So, for now, he stays.

Music and translation notes

So, the song in French is possibly a little late - the site that posted it dated the recording between 1898 and 1900. But the opera it's from was 1888, so, plausible. And the words were just far, far too lovely to not use it!

I do not know French. Like at all. But GoogleTranslate gave me this, which provides a clear enough sense of the thing:

Jocelyn's Lullaby

Hidden in the asylum where God has led us
United by misfortune during the long nights
We rely both asleep in their sails
Where to pray against the trembling stars.

Oh! does not wakes
For a beautiful angel in your dream
Unrolling his long golden thread
Child, allowing it ends.
Sleep, sleep, the day just to him.
Blessed Virgin Mary, watch over him.


I swear to you all, I did NOT even make the connection between the title and my character, not until I wrote the song into the story and decided to mention the name of the song. Suddenly I realized I HAVE A CHARACTER NAMED JOCELYN AND OMFGWTFH SHE GAVE THE RECORDING TO MACKIE. It almost (almost) made me not want to use it anymore, but by then a) it was too late, b) I was too freaking attached to the song. Follow the link, and you can listen to it too. :) Quite a bit of static, of course - the recording is over a hundred years old, and on a thing made out of freaking wax, but.. honestly, that just makes it all the more amazing to me.

I did some writing this morning, a bit more in the afternoon, and then finished up just now. And I am in such a state of sheer bliss - I crossed the halfway point without even noticing it! And, more importantly... I felt like I really fell into the world of the story tonight. I was so caught up in Mephisto and David... and it was partly the music I had cranked on my headphones (Mackie playlist, natch), and partly the absinthe I was sipping (yay!), but...

Those moments, those are the reasons I've kept on doing this year after year. It's those moments, that artists live for, when another world just blossoms almost unbidden under your fingertips...

(I hadn't even thought of the implications when I picked out David's song: Link to sheet music, Googled for the missing verse. I just saw that it was pretty and a bit fantastic, I didn't even realize at first it was to be sung by a woman originally. And then he sang, and... and then everything got really, really beautiful. <333)

Note

Luce and Meres totally hijacked my plans for that scene. Started in this morning, and Luce decided that taunting Claude was not as fun as it was yesterday. Instead, he heard something, and next thing I knew they were running off toward...

I had no idea what.

Wound up surprising me more than it surprised them, apparently. I had to keep referring back to the last chapter with Azal, to remember what the room looked like, and make sure I wasn't contradicting myself too absurdly. (Explanation: Azal thought he was okay. Ordered some wine to calm himself enough to head back to the party. Kept drinking. Couldn't clear his head, and things got worse instead of better. Kept drinking, and then made poor decisions. wtg Azal.)

Notes

I am trying to make Claude into a little snot. He was not as much of one in the original story, but, I think he should be one. Poor Luce - I, and thus he, could barely contain massive gigglefits at some of the things the boy said.

(I realized yesterday that I should probably have made it clear earlier on in the story that by "boy", my Grigori mean someone late teens, early twenties. Young man, really. But they're a bit too demeaning for that.)

Luce can be both my hardest and easiest character to write. He likes to ramble on about the psychology of people and that sort of thing. It's really, really intimidating to think about the sheer volume of epigrams that he ought to be spouting, but once he starts talking... it's hard to shut him up.

David is younger than Claude, and I realized this year that they were far too similar in my head, so I'm working on differentiating them better. Unfortunately for you, they're only coming clearer in my own mind as I write them. :p So please bear with.

Originally, I was just going to have this scene cover some general notes on character relationships, and then have someone (probably Luce) observe and comment on a sniping little bitchfight between Claude and David. That fight has yet to happen... and I have to admit, I'm a little upset about subjecting poor little David to it. Claude is a snot, and is going to be terribly unkind, I'm afraid. The purpose of this fight, I have yet to discover, I just know they should have one. (Though, I'm starting to think Claude should instead pick a fight with Veri - the motivation is clear, and it would be FUNNY AS ALL FREAKING HELL to watch him try it.)

...why are my characters all so sadistic? I'm a nice person! Really! I can barely insult people, let alone plot their moral demises.