Plan of action re: Ice Palace book

[pegkerr]

I brainstormed in my novel diary re: what I need to do to get the book moving again. I tried to identify what it is that is making me get stuck and think of a plan of action to address the problems.

Points of unease:

Opacity of Jack
Vagueness about how Rolf and Jack are allied
Feel that book doesn't have enough characters. All I really have are Solveig, Ingrid, Agnes, Jack and Rolf.
Lack of knowledge about architecture
Unease about proposed climax of the book. I haven't really sold it to myself; to me it smacks too much of the climax of my first book. Ugh. Like chewing used chewing gum.
Have not convinced myself that I have figured out satisfactorily What Happens To Rolf
I don't know what the fish are up to.
What does magic have to do with the story? The emotional arc?
Unsure about the dream opening sequence.

I thought about that if writing this book is metafiction, then this book is about self-doubt. How does the ice palace fit in?

Plan of action:

1) For the next week, try freewriting any way I can think of to get into Jack's mind:

Write from the P-O-V of someone in his apartment building
Someone who sees him on the bus (does he ride the bus?)
A coworker (not Solveig)
Someone who sees him at the neighborhood coffeeshop (does he drink coffee?)
What would a journalist say who interviews him about architecture?
Try applying the questions in the List Yourself book.

2) Once I have finished reading Tim Powers' Declare, start to try reading possible source books. Architecture, esp. in Twin Ciites. Any folklore (esp. Scandinavian) re: fish.

3) Think about how much time should be devoted to writing (per day? per week?), no excuses.

4) Reassess status of Jack at beginning of October.

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

There's an Irish story about the salmon of knowledge where the salmon has been eating hazelnuts that drop into a well, then Finn eats the salmon -- or in fact, just licks his finger when a drop of fat from the salmon falls on it when he's cooking it for an evil wizard to eat, and attains knowledge.

I wonder if the eating the nuts thing might work with your seasonal magic?

Jack noodling, shut me up if this kind of thing isn't helpful:

You could keep writing Jack from outside until you can see inside. Jack's got to be a real modern person as well as whatever else. He's also a trickster. He must have started off awfully skeptical about the magic. What's his family background? I'd see him as having a little boy who wants to believe, a young adult self who wants to be cynical and it's maybe the connecting of the two that lets him go for the magic even if it's evil, even if there's a price, and then he needs to find a way to be a wise adult with a heart of flesh. So you have the triple woman as three women, and you have the triple man all in Jack, with the wrong adult self in Rolf, who has grown old without growing up. It would seem to me that considering what Jack has to learn from Ingrid and Agnes might be useful.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did know that Irish story, and was interested in tracing roots to see if there were any related fish-wisdom stories in the Scandinavian tradition.

V. good and helpful thoughts about Jack. What Jack has to learn from Ingrid and Agnes: I will think about that. I remember Tim Powers once saying that it's extremely helpful to find out what your character wants the most and what they fear the most. To drive the plot, try to put those two things in conflict with each other.

I will add all these thoughts to the hopper while pondering. Thanks!