I've sort of made a promise to myself that I would write at least one chapter of the book every night, and so far I've done exactly that. I am done with the prewriting of three chapters and in keeping with the same style and type of writing that I do, I have about 6 pages per chapter, or about 18-20 pages written. This is again, prewriting. I'm going to go through it and fluff and stuff all the way through the dang thing once it's completed, which at this pace should be mid-February.
Fluff and stuff is the easy and simple way of saying I'm going to go through the book paragraph by paragraph and add lines, take out lines, add flowery imagery, and make the "blue sky" read more like "treasured azure illusions lifted effortlessly in the heavens". That alone should take the minimal wording into the abyss of overwordedness so that I find myself going back through the book and eliminating 20% of the stuff I added thinking I needed to sound more fluffy.
In order to get ideas about how I should be sounding, what the characters should be feeling, and what I want the readers to understand, I am doing some rather tedious and unique studying of the period wording(s) as well as things that took place in and around the timeframe(s) of the book. I'm delving into the writings of many 17th and 18th (even 19th) century authors who at the time of their writing, were living in or around Scotland. I want to get a feel and comprehensive understanding of the thoughts and desires of the class of individuals I'm setting before my own readers. I can't use their language perfectly, I know that but I will be using it in the best way I think I can produce for a woman who only grew up loving Scotland and it's language and people; I was not there.
Chapter Three is all about the small and vast differences and/or some similarities between Glasgow and Edinburgh between 1740-1744. It's about the Grassmarket, the trips made by families and merchants, and it introduces a semi-recurring figure in the person of Antoin Alfred Brooford. If the name Antoin Broonford sounds vaguely familiar, it is because the person of Tony Broonford of Edinburgh is the man I am fashioning the character around! Tony has graciously allowed me to use his likeness and image, and I'll throw in a few personality traits as well as his great capabilities as a tour guide! This is a fun chapter, and I really enjoy it. I had a chance to look up certain facts through Wikipedia too, and let me tell you, I always learn something when I go there!
One of the best things about being a writer is being a reader too. I get the chance to read the works of so many others who were writing about similar events many centuries ago, and I lean a bit to the help of contemporaries as well, but only for flare and descriptions of the glens and moors perhaps. I can't rely on a 21st-century Highlander to be much like that of an 18th-century Campbell or Arthur (MacArthur). I have the Macleods wearing their hunting colors rather than the "Loud Macleod" yellow and black plaid; if only for less distraction on the battlefield. You don't want a MacDonald or MacDougal calling out "Oy! There's ane!" Could be a bad thing for the men of Lewis. Best to be subdued.
OK, so that's all there is to report about Chapter Three. I'm looking forward to my work in terms of fleshing, fluffing, stuffing and otherwise expanding this particular chapter because it means I'll be able to watch Tony's videos again and learn more about the old closes, the new bridges, the cobbled walkways, hanging gallows, the Maiden, and a bit about the bathhouse if it was standing during the time of the rebellions. We'll have to take a gander while we wander.
Photo Credit: Pinterest (painting 1759 of a site near Edinburgh)
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