12 Dec 2019

Digital Magic - Commentary 6

Safely home and back to more weirdness, in Digital Magic chapter 6.

Jackie needed time to recover.  There's no way she would want to stay at her apartment for long after what happened in Chapter 5.  Her parents' home is a safe spot, even if she has moved out.  Of course, that leaves the question, why did she move out if her parents live so close.  The answer, the one I came up with to answer that question for myself, is that she didn't want to be that far from school.  Jackie lives in biking range, though she prefers to drive in the winter.  She and Trish share the rent.

Jacinda returns!  I swear, I probably should have focused on the split between Jackie's adventures and Jacinda's.  However, I was aiming for a romance, not strictly SF/Urban Fantasy.  But I needed the Jacinda scene to get to the payoff, that Jackie can perform magic.  There's some action in there to break up the pace a bit.  The key part, though, is the mouse.  Poof, it's purple!

Wait, this is a romance?  Where's the romantic parts?  It's Chapter 6!  Jackie got hit on once, by Steve, and Lance has appeared briefly.  There's not even a romantic chemistry between Jackie and Trish.  What gives?  Is this a slow build up?  Not really.  I got more interested in the magic side of the plot that the romance fell from A-plot to tertiary back-up subplot.  Oops?  And, well, romance is difficult, at least as planned.  Naturally, when I decide that romance isn't something I can write well, Brenna has one in The Soul Blade, leading to a gap in the time spent writing as I try to figure out how to wrap up what was supposed to be a subplot while the main plot is coming to an end.  Maybe Digital Magic, despite being what I feel is a failure, gave me the experience to handle Brenna and Officer Matt properly.

Jackie's worldview is shaken, in Digital Magic Chapter 7.
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, fixing Eegah!
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, hiatus week.

No comments:

Post a Comment