MetaFic

So I've been whittling away at the next chapter of Curse Breakers after an unexpected argument with, and estrangement from, the story. I found myself a bit out of sorts with the characters and plot and so journeyed back to the beginning and reread the story, rather minutely. After wincing at some rather egregious use of the passive voice, wincing at some of the dialogue, and nearly flogging myself over a horrendous continuity miss, my muse and I are dating again, although she's instituted a third date rule and so no major fireworks are happening.

So while I plan for a date tonight, I am thinking nice food, wine, and some after dessert martinis to loosen my muse up, I have been mulling over word choice and the predominance of some words and phrases that exude themes.

Most of this comes from writing the sentence, "It was perplexing in a man whom she had always found to be as gentle and even-keeled as her father."

I was half way into the next paragraph and glanced back and frowned. "Even-keeled?" I mumbled, tapping out a short rhythm on my keyboard. "Does anyone even use that phrase anymore?"

Well, I do.

Perhaps it is because my grandfather was in the Navy and my mother was a Navy brat and then a Navy nurse, which is where she met my father, but I tend to write with a nautical theme in words and metaphors. I am not saying I think my stories read like a re-hashing of Moby Dick, but calm seas, dark storms, and following winds are as plentiful in my writing as lakes are in Minnesota.

See, even there, a water reference.

Now, there are other themes that my word choice gravitates towards. Nature is a rather lush component of my prose and descriptions. Construction and building metaphors are a hearty foundation of some of my work.

But the story is from Ginny's POV. In Curse Breakers, Ginny has a tendency to think in terms of the Maya and curse breaking in general, but does she have any reference to think of someone as even-keeled, or is that just my voice slipping into hers? Would she use steady? Or perhaps even-tempered?

And perhaps this is a problem all writers face. Do our characters think as the character would think, or do we as writers always nudge them towards our frame of reference?

In all honesty, it is probably a balancing act. Reading the story, Ginny has distinct thought processes that I do not have. In truth, it is the biggest struggle I have with Curse Breakers. How does an independent witch, such as Ginny, reference her world? It is perhaps why I use so many metaphors and idioms that relate to the magical world, but then some nautical jargon slips in and I wonder if it is out of place or not.

At the moment, I have just put it off with the disclaimer of, well, she is English, and England is an island nation with a very significant nautical history. I do not doubt that such terms are prevalent in the common parlance, although perhaps not the exact terms I use. But she is also a country girl. Would she perhaps use more agricultural references?

At this point, I am too far in the story to really change it, but it is an interesting debate that can keep me occupied during the boring meetings at work.

So, after this long and rambling discourse on terminology and theme, I guess I wanted to know what themes and/or ideas pepper your writing? Perhaps you spice things up with cooking and food references, or you struggle to delete the technical jargon from your prose. Or perhaps you eschew metaphor and simile to avoid the issue in general.

-Jonathan