this is how it happens

[truepenny]

So, back when I was doing the slash and burn through Mélusine to lose 15k, my editor suggested that there was a particular scene near the end of the book that didn't seem to be doing much, and maybe it could go? And I said, No, it has to stay in (and where it is, since her other suggestion was to move it into Kekropia--where, honestly, it would not have fit). It's important.

But I didn't know why.

Last night, I figured it out.

I finished reading through the nine extant chapters of Kekropia yesterday afternoon, and last night was sitting with notebook and Phileas, trying to figure out how to start Chapter 10, which I do by writing dow the things that need to happen, and then trying different ways of combining them to make them happen plausibly. And I wrote, What they need is to figure out the application of [thematic thingamabob] to and my brain finished the sentence, the current situation, and ka-pow! The circuit closed, the lights came on, and I knew why I had had to leave the scene in Mélusine in and why it was important, and what it was for. Now, mind you, the thing it's for is something I didn't know about when I was writing Mélusine or when I was editing Mélusine, or in fact until I'd started writing Chapter 9 of Kekropia. But this scene that I wrote without knowing why I needed it solves three or four different problems at once, including one that actually belongs to the third book. And it ties a whole bunch of thematic things together in a way that makes it look like I knew what I was doing all the time.

I am torn between amazed delight at my own cleverness and the sort of primitive fear that leads to volcano worship and cargo cults.

Comments

[larryhammer]

Or to saltshaker worship among slugs.

But, yeah, it's a fun thing to realize, that the scaffolding is there for a reason you hadn't realized when you put it up.

---L.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Or to saltshaker worship among slugs.

Yes, exactly!

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean. It's the "If I had done that on purpose it would have been really clever" thing. That's happened to me any number of times.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_swallow/]

That is very cool.

[heresluck]

Hurrah for your brain!

Of course, now I'm sitting here trying to figure out which scene in Mélusine it is. *g*

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I'll never tell!

::maniacal laughter::

[elisem.livejournal.com]

I am torn between amazed delight at my own cleverness and the sort of primitive fear that leads to volcano worship and cargo cults.

I heart you.

[katallen.livejournal.com]

::grins:: worship thy subconscious, and the muse, and...

I love those moments, and that balance between glee and awestruck terror. And 'how could that have happened without me thinking about it, and how could it possibly be planned because there'd have to be something clue to direct that I did it, no?'

And yes, I'm wondering exactly what this means in your booksies and for the guys ::grins::

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

Hi. misia referred me over here. I'm a lit nerd, in graduate school in NYC, and am looking to transfer/start over someplace else in Fall 06. One of the departments I'm looking at is where she says you did your graduate study. Would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions about the program and your experience in it over e-mail? I'm in the early planning stages, obviously, but I want to make an as informed a move as I possibly can.

(If not, that's totally okay too.)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind at all, and I'll give you the best answers I can.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Woo! You are so clever.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

That's wonderful!

You subconscious is very wise.