When I wrote Out of Time, there was a lot of mystery in my mind. Why do the characters do what they do? How does the timeline work? What do the whirly bits on the characters' skins mean?
I had a dim plan to work it out later, believing that the mystery in my mind would create a delightful riddle for the reader. Apparently, this is not the case. Apparently it's like telling a joke without the punchline. Like, what's brown and sticky? ... It's liable to cause dismay, or possibly murderous rage.
So for anyone who's thrown the first draft of my novel at the wall in dismay, here's one mystery solved. The biohazard symbol on my main character only becomes visible half way through the novel because... I only thought up the biohazard idea half-way through writing the novel. And for anyone who wants to know the answer to the joke, it's - well, it's not what you think.
More About Writing a Novel...
I had a dim plan to work it out later, believing that the mystery in my mind would create a delightful riddle for the reader. Apparently, this is not the case. Apparently it's like telling a joke without the punchline. Like, what's brown and sticky? ... It's liable to cause dismay, or possibly murderous rage.
So for anyone who's thrown the first draft of my novel at the wall in dismay, here's one mystery solved. The biohazard symbol on my main character only becomes visible half way through the novel because... I only thought up the biohazard idea half-way through writing the novel. And for anyone who wants to know the answer to the joke, it's - well, it's not what you think.
More About Writing a Novel...
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