Okay, now I’m on the 4th draft of chapter 17! It’s an event that you’ll KNOW is going to happen from early on in the book, you’re going to WANT it to happen, and it’s my job to make it as satisfying as possible. Here’s the preview:
The wilted bloom takes the stage at last;
her presence and strength bound to the past.
How best to cultivate this flower?
Apply pressure! Truth! Swell with power!
Not too much is changing in this chapter from draft 3. A few characters are shifted around. Dialog adjustments where appropriate. Some of this involves the sigils that I mentioned in an earlier blog.
Ah! But enough about that! I’m sure you’re DYING for the book review I promised last month:
And I did finish reading Return to the Ship of Dreams: Sinking the Unsinkable. As I said last time, the book is about a girl that goes back in time to witness the voyage and sinking of the Titanic in its entirety. And that’s exactly what happens! There’s no antagonist or even much conflict. The author is clearly obsessed with the Titanic, and uses her knowledge to describe everything that occurs. I would have liked a bad guy, though. 😒
Chapter 15 was my favorite. It covers the night of the iceberg impact. I was hoping for something good and oh man this didn’t disappoint. Pure destructive poetry! I can tell she put extra thought and care into it. 😍
There was an AMAZING line near the end of the chapter and I really hope the author didn’t steal it from anywhere. I’ll have to ask, if I can find her at church again.
Something funny though: there were a bunch of pop culture references in the ‘present’ portions of the book. And as you might have heard, I’m not into pop culture stuff. I never even saw the FILM Titanic. So every reference about the movie in this book goes right in one ear and out the other. And the main character, Pearl, LOVES talking about the movie.
And then there are the ringtones on the character’s phones. I assume these are the author’s favorite songs. And when Pearl’s phone rings the song’s verses are all written out and I’m like “I don’t know this song, author! I don’t care! ‘Carry on my wayward son?‘ How about you carry on with the story? Such self indulgence!”
But then there’s ANOTHER ring tone near the end of the book. A guy named Sam gets a call. Every vocalization from the song is AGAIN spelled out. I’m about ready to rage… but whoops! I know this song!
Wow! It’s Renegade by Styx! I found this song years ago while reading the book Lady Knight and reaching the chapter ‘Renegade.’ I wanted to know if any good renegade songs existed in the world so I found this on YouTube. It’s a great song if you ever go renegading. 😎
Suddenly my tune changes, huh? All my complaints evaporate once I get a pop culture reference that I like! Funny how that works. Now I’m gushing. “Author, you have such amazing taste! Keep this going! Don’t have the character pick up his phone! (Sam is actually asked by Pearl to keep the phone ringing so that she can listen to more of the lyrics.) They don’t make music like THIS anymore, and everyone in the world needs to know!”
So that’s how it goes. You’re lucky that Abandonment Party is set in a fictional world. Otherwise all my characters would be talking about how their knowledge of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is vital to solving the murder of Shigeru Miyamoto.