I discussed the gap before, but I should go deeper into the reasons. The chapter was written in the final days of NaNo 2007, my second year doing NaNo. What would now normally be a push to leave myself in a good spot to return to was then a desperate push to reach the 50k word goal. I didn't know how to get to the ending and wound up getting advice from a fellow NaNo-er to just jump the gap. So I did. The change gave me that one last burst to reach goal.
Jackie's been kidnapped by Steve and is in the clutches of Donna. Donna, despite not having appeared in person at all, though her eyes did show up earlier, had a background with motivation. It's not a deep background, but it worked for what I needed. Donna is an evil woman who uses the magical potential of younger women, like Jackie, to stay young and gain power. She's been doing this for centuries, starting in Italy. Her real name isn't Donna; she took that from a former title, Donna. It's one way to hide her history while still feeling superior. Jackie means nothing to Donna beyond being a battery to drain and toss away.
Keeping with the idea of magic has to be worked through metaphor, Donna's is music. She must sing her spells. The more complicated the spell, the more difficult the spell. However, she's had the time to truly learn to sing. If she wasn't so far into being an evil person, she could easily make a living in popular music. She has the range needed to sing opera, which is probably how she learned to cast spells.
Jackie gets the required begging out of the way. Always happens. And the villain always denies. It's a cliché, but that's the level of thought I was capable of at the time. And Donna was fun to write at the time. This sets up Jackie's rescue next chapter. The stakes have been raised.
Tomorrow, Jackie fights back!!
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, The Orville.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, RWBY, the manga anthology.
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