11 out of 17
25 May 2019 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI've finished -- FINISHED -- Plot Point 11! Christine and Raoul are reunited, they've finally exchanged life stories and more than a few kisses (even if the first one had to be relocated from its original plot location to somewhere with more time/privacy for experimentation) and they're on the boat home together. Next stop, Paris -- or possibly Chagny, depending on whether we jump straight to Comte Philippe or not.
And now I have no excuse at all not to go back and rewrite the wretched Plot Point Nine and the voyage of theRèsurgence yet again :-(
I'm going to need to get rid of Lancard somehow, as well; I've been fitting him in quite nicely round the edges of the current chapters, in which he originally had no part, but he really does have no part in the next bit of the story; he certainly can't show up at the interview with the Comte de Chagny, or with Madame Valerius, and he probably shouldn't be in as 'guide' on the Erik-hunt either. I'm afraid I was getting rather fond of him.
(It dawned on me today that I have basically been using Lancard as a useful foil for Raoul in the way that so many people like to use the daroga in the rôle of 'Erik's best friend' -- as the weary bystander who is always ready to defuse his friend's over-emotional flights and make cynical remarks to hide the genuine affection between them. I'm not particularly convinced that the daroga in Leroux actually does have that sort of canon relationship with Erik, but the trope is clearly a useful one.)
I'm also wondering about viewpoints. So far I've written the first chapter from Christine's point of view (so that we can get the balanced and mature view of a disappointedly childish Raoul, and also so that we can deliberately confuse the readership as to what Christine is really thinking at this point :-p), the next section entirely from Raoul's point of view until we get to Christine's kidnap, then a fairly long section which is necessarily from Christine's point of view again as she is alone with Erik, then a very long section covering Raoul's experiences in the Arctic. I'm now starting to wonder whether Christine is actually going to get any more viewpoint chapters at all, and whether from a structural point of view this is a problem.
The scene where they eventually find Erik is by implication seen from Raoul's point of view, since there are a couple of things he sees that Christine doesn't. The scene where they are riding towards the hut was I think originally conceived in Christine's viewpoint (there is a moment when she is looking at Raoul's seat on horseback), and I think the scene with Madame Valerius probably ought to be through her eyes as well. The epilogue with Christine and Philippe looking down on the parade definitely has to be written from her perspective.
All right, so it looks as if we are going to have some future Christine-PoV chapters in this story :-)
In that case -- since we've been in Raoul's point of view for probably twenty or so chapters by this point -- should I be trying to change back as soon as possible, in order to reintroduce the idea of having both narrators? The trouble is, the next scene is Raoul's reunion with his brother, and I think we really do need Raoul's emotional perspective on that; Christine barely knows Philippe and wouldn't notice any changes in him, quite apart from anything else. So I'm probably not going to switch back until we get back to Sweden, where Raoul conversely doesn't have any particular emotional connection with poor little Greta... and then a bit of relatively quick alternation, by the looks of it.
Not sure that's going to be terribly structurally coherent -- whose story is it anyway? It seems to be coming out as mainly Raoul's (surprise, surprise!) -- but it's more a matter of practicality. It just seems a bit odd to have long swathes of chapters from Raoul's point of view with a few quick ones from Christine tucked in when convenient.
And now I have no excuse at all not to go back and rewrite the wretched Plot Point Nine and the voyage of theRèsurgence yet again :-(
I'm going to need to get rid of Lancard somehow, as well; I've been fitting him in quite nicely round the edges of the current chapters, in which he originally had no part, but he really does have no part in the next bit of the story; he certainly can't show up at the interview with the Comte de Chagny, or with Madame Valerius, and he probably shouldn't be in as 'guide' on the Erik-hunt either. I'm afraid I was getting rather fond of him.
(It dawned on me today that I have basically been using Lancard as a useful foil for Raoul in the way that so many people like to use the daroga in the rôle of 'Erik's best friend' -- as the weary bystander who is always ready to defuse his friend's over-emotional flights and make cynical remarks to hide the genuine affection between them. I'm not particularly convinced that the daroga in Leroux actually does have that sort of canon relationship with Erik, but the trope is clearly a useful one.)
I'm also wondering about viewpoints. So far I've written the first chapter from Christine's point of view (so that we can get the balanced and mature view of a disappointedly childish Raoul, and also so that we can deliberately confuse the readership as to what Christine is really thinking at this point :-p), the next section entirely from Raoul's point of view until we get to Christine's kidnap, then a fairly long section which is necessarily from Christine's point of view again as she is alone with Erik, then a very long section covering Raoul's experiences in the Arctic. I'm now starting to wonder whether Christine is actually going to get any more viewpoint chapters at all, and whether from a structural point of view this is a problem.
The scene where they eventually find Erik is by implication seen from Raoul's point of view, since there are a couple of things he sees that Christine doesn't. The scene where they are riding towards the hut was I think originally conceived in Christine's viewpoint (there is a moment when she is looking at Raoul's seat on horseback), and I think the scene with Madame Valerius probably ought to be through her eyes as well. The epilogue with Christine and Philippe looking down on the parade definitely has to be written from her perspective.
All right, so it looks as if we are going to have some future Christine-PoV chapters in this story :-)
In that case -- since we've been in Raoul's point of view for probably twenty or so chapters by this point -- should I be trying to change back as soon as possible, in order to reintroduce the idea of having both narrators? The trouble is, the next scene is Raoul's reunion with his brother, and I think we really do need Raoul's emotional perspective on that; Christine barely knows Philippe and wouldn't notice any changes in him, quite apart from anything else. So I'm probably not going to switch back until we get back to Sweden, where Raoul conversely doesn't have any particular emotional connection with poor little Greta... and then a bit of relatively quick alternation, by the looks of it.
Not sure that's going to be terribly structurally coherent -- whose story is it anyway? It seems to be coming out as mainly Raoul's (surprise, surprise!) -- but it's more a matter of practicality. It just seems a bit odd to have long swathes of chapters from Raoul's point of view with a few quick ones from Christine tucked in when convenient.
