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Thursday, January 18, 2018

RRJ 1/18


Red Rooster Writing Journal

48k words and hoping to break 50 tomorrow.

The structure of this installment is of three separate - though related - storylines that all converge for the big finale. They are the New York storyline, the Virginia storyline, and the Wyoming storyline, and all roads lead to Virginia. 

I had THE epiphany on the treadmill two nights ago, and it brought the whole storyline together. I was grinning like an idiot to myself, so pumped and excited...now I've just got to write it all down. *cries*

This series is the first time I've ever written about true historical figures. Once I got past the initial fear that I will Screw Up Big Time, I realized it was an absolute blast, and incredibly interesting. For me it's like watching a film, and then writing obsessive essays about the characters' motivations afterward. It's like my favorite kind of literary paper - the character study. In school, whenever possible, I wrote character studies as opposed to literature analyses. I read this amazing Vlad biography over Christmas break, and while the true story of the Impaler and his brother is fascinating, it was also largely filled with speculation - and not very deep speculation at that - as to Vlad and Radu's (Valerian in my books) thought processes. I now get to go in, armed with the facts, and construct their thoughts and emotions during all that, and that's  just a nerdy dream, let me tell you. So I'm incredibly excited to introduce my humble interpretation of Vlad in this book, and start digging into the mountain range of issues that lies between the two brothers. 

Today's writing focused mostly on the NY storyline, and I'm loving getting to draw the parallels between Trina and Katya. Theirs is a family of badass ladies. 

Favorite tidbit of the day:

“I can’t sniff anyone out, or Jedi Mindtrick anyone, but I can cause a distraction. And get some useful intel out of the idiot. What do you say?”
Lanny sent her an approving look.
Jamie buried his face in his hands.
Alexei looked at her appraisingly, head cocked to the side.
Nikita sighed, and finally nodded. “Carry a gun.”
She felt her smile widen. “I’m never not carrying a gun.”

Red Rooster
Copyright © 2018 by Lauren Gilley

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