Finished

I managed to finish the first draft of Spider on the Web after prevaricating for a couple of weeks over the last two chapters. There are one or two things that happened in the final showdown which surprised me and which I had to hurriedly ret-con earlier in the text, but by and large folks ended up where they were supposed to.

I know there are still some things I need to change, but for now I probably need to just leave it and let it settle for a week ot two. It's come in at 117,000 words and I was intending it to be no more than 100,000, so I'll be thinking very carefully about attacking it with pruning shears.

It's definitely the most gritty and adult book I've ever tackled. Whether it's too coarse/explicit or not remains to be seen. It's not porn-level explicit, but it is a fantasy book and there's an optimum level of expectation from fantasy readers that it would be well to take note of.
:-)

Finished

I managed to finish the first draft of Spider on the Web after prevaricating for a couple of weeks over the last two chapters. There are one or two things that happened in the final showdown which surprised me and which I had to hurriedly ret-con earlier in the text, but by and large folks ended up where they were supposed to.

I know there are still some things I need to change, but for now I probably need to just leave it and let it settle for a week ot two. It's come in at 117,000 words and I was intending it to be no more than 100,000, so I'll be thinking very carefully about attacking it with pruning shears.

It's definitely the most gritty and adult book I've ever tackled. Whether it's too coarse/explicit or not remains to be seen. It's not porn-level explicit, but it is a fantasy book and there's an optimum level of expectation from fantasy readers that it would be well to take note of.
:-)

Best Laid Plans

I've had a bit of difficulty researching the Polish background to Spider on the Web, but today I found a wonderful site with everything I could possibly want to know about Krakow. Yay. It will give me some sorely needed little details for the background, especially since it gives a brief history of various buildings.

But...

It appears the Kings of Poland were all interred in the cathedral. Bummer. My opening chapter had the King's cremation. I know mine is a fantasy Poland not the real Poland - but in 1650 it should have been a burial not a cremation. I knew that, really, but for other reasons the cremation fitted my plot-line so I was trying to ignore it.

An unbroken line of kings each entombed in their own royal sarcophagus in the cathedral is a bit harder to ignore.

Back to the drawing board.

Best Laid Plans

I've had a bit of difficulty researching the Polish background to Spider on the Web, but today I found a wonderful site with everything I could possibly want to know about Krakow. Yay. It will give me some sorely needed little details for the background, especially since it gives a brief history of various buildings.

But...

It appears the Kings of Poland were all interred in the cathedral. Bummer. My opening chapter had the King's cremation. I know mine is a fantasy Poland not the real Poland - but in 1650 it should have been a burial not a cremation. I knew that, really, but for other reasons the cremation fitted my plot-line so I was trying to ignore it.

An unbroken line of kings each entombed in their own royal sarcophagus in the cathedral is a bit harder to ignore.

Back to the drawing board.