I love Hawkspar as a character. She has depth and shape and personality, a lot to lose, a lot to gain; I’m not having any trouble writing her.
I’m having a hell of a time with Rik. Writing him is thrilling me as much as chewing on wet cardboard would, and I think he’s going to have to go — to be replaced by a hero who isn’t Talyn’s youngest brother all grown up. Talyn’s little brother was a nice kid, and he grew up to be a good guy, and I’m afraid I need someone …. badder.
Because of the time limit on finishing HAWKSPAR, I’m not going to be backtracking. Today is a rethink day — I’m going to create a new character for the hero, plug him into the book starting tomorrow, and then go back in the rewrite and redo the portions of the first two hundred pages that included Rik.
In other news, bought the Howling Moron’s Brightly-Colored Book of Sailing (K.I.S.S. Guide to Sailing) and am studying it religiously, because way too much of this book takes place on wind-powered ships for me to rely on Internet resources and my limited semi-related reference books.
