When Evinden was first conceived as a movie, it was intended to be told in a generally omniscient manner, leaping deftly between locations and characters with gay abandon. When I rejiggled it into a novel, I switched things around a bit so that it was third person subjective, with sizeable sections each from the point of view of a specific character. Therefore the story starts off following the trader/explorer Tranton Seldon in the last stages of his lonely mountain trek and remains with him for the next 40 pages and several chapters, before switching at a key moment to the young Keila Tellador, king’s daughter. We stay with her for a longer 160 pages before the narrative shifts to an older mentor character for 92 pages. And thus it goes.
The idea was to switch perspective at key narrative points to raise tension as well as provide fresh insight into different characters and themes, hopefully keeping the story and setting fresh and intriguing. I felt this was particularly important given that there’s a mystery at the heart of the story, with most of the characters wondering what the hell’s going on – it was crucial for the audience to be in a similar position.
Anyway, structurally this is all well and good but it does make writing the bastard considerably more tricky. Just as you get completely into the head of one character and know how they tick, just when they’re essentially writing themselves regardless of your intentions…the story changes up on you. And so here I am at the start of Part Three, almost 300 pages in, and I have to figure out how to write from a completely new perspective, in a way that will bring readers along rather than confusing or frustrating them.
I really should have picked something smaller and easier for my first book. I should also stop blogging and just get on with writing the mofo.
13 days to go.
