This weekend I will be working on the first rewrite of “The Gnostic”. I am amazed at just how much I am changing in terms of story in just this first pass. I am introducing new characters to flesh out the world a bit better. Towards that end I am also incorporating separate story-lines for some of them, each with at least four chapters.
I am also completely revamping the main character. He currently starts out not liking his life at all, so even horrific changes in his existence are ultimately welcome, and he doesn’t fight too much against things he should be more terrified of. He’s also a bit of a downer, and since I started writing the novel without laying any groundwork he has no past to speak of. In short he is an unlikeable blank slate from word one, and any changes he undergoes in character development are simply filling a void. None of this is surprising, as I did no editing on the first draft, but it is still a bit on the daunting side.
Daunting, but exciting. Due to some harsh but welcome critiques I now have a much clearer vision of what needs to happen next. OK, they weren’t that harsh, but I did have to push some fat ego to the side to receive it properly. I think all writers have to learn to master that skill. That said, the world of “The Gnostic” is rapidly revealing itself to me from this first seed of an idea. There are conspiracies, dream worlds, and lots of Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. Lots. My terminology is also solidifying, which is really important, and I finally gave the main villain a real name.
So that’s my upcoming weekend. Well, that and avoiding Flesh Minions. They’re nasty and unpredictable things.
