Well, even though it is always the last thing to do with my discretionary time, I am enjoying the book again now that I’m done with the ending.
I have made myself calculate how far I am every day every time I write, and it looks like I am 83% done with the first draft. The end is in sight, and the only remaining mystery is how she does not starve to death after she is abandoned.
I thought about having someone throw out some congealed oatmeal ala Jane Eyre, but it’s set in Oklahoma and it would get very dusty. I wonder if Charlotte sat at her desk thinking, “Is anyone going to believe this? Or is this overused, having someone throw out oatmeal? Is it too convenient? Should it be gruel? Is that the same as oatmeal?” (Charlotte Brontë looks up oatmeal and gruel.) “Ah,” she says, “I must use gruel, to parallel the gruel in the orphanage. Charlotte re-reads the entire book looking for references to gruel to see if she has overused gruel and wishes someone like her friend Ada Lovelace would invent software to help people process words.
4 responses to “Rewriting the Novel: It’s Fun Again”
Does anyone nearby keep pigs or chickens? Swiping the most palatable portions of their scraps might work, although it also might give her food poisoning. Seasonally, sometimes there is wild food foraging in some areas. Or people who went on picnics and left their leftovers and picnic wrapping papers (this made many people Cranky; you are supposed to bury or pack home your scraps and paper and stuff) – if there are rich-ish people in town?
KC – I ended up making her bus tables at the cafe and she eats the scraps before washing the dishes.
Yep, sounds plausible and also like less food poisoning, so excellent.
KC -mwe will see if it makes it through the next few drafts.