Third Time's a Charm, Mayhap?

Okay, so Valérian is now underway. Or make that Valérian v. 3 is underway. And I'm again taking a risk on my approach to this book after the setbacks it suffered. 

In order to keep the focus on not only Roland's experiences as a recent immigrant to America but also on Valérian's more peripheral accounts about his life as an upper-servant for a filthy rich (and darkly eccentric) brother and sister pair, I need to carve a space between the two brothers. And that was where I fell short the first two times I attempted to write this book.

There was too much focus on Roland, not Valérian, even though Valérian isn't in the picture for about 95% of the time. Everything we learn about his movements is second-hand, and I had to not only dump my first two drafts but also approach this version completely differently.

The most effective narrative form to use in this instance is epistolary. 

Yes, I'm back to letters and journal entries for my storytelling, and that's the best way of giving Roland's PoV a more pressing quality to it, i.e., he's responding almost in real time versus after the fact (like a long flashback), which is how first person points-of-view work. Epistolary fiction is more disjointed and, if done right, allows the reader to fill in the blanks since the narrator (or journal-writer) isn't communicating to an audience. He's writing down his own thoughts and reactions while also recounting IN LIMITED DETAIL moments that stuck with him. 

I've already done epistolary fiction before, the most notable effort being my Ghosts and Tea series. I'm fucking proud of that fact, by the way. There's also a half-traditional and half-epistolary approach in Primavera. For Valérian, I'm back to sticking to pure journal-writing with letters sprinkled throughout. 

Now as with Ghosts and Tea, I'm trying to strike a balance between traditional narrative and realistic journal-writing. Books from the classic canon that are epistolary fiction like Dracula and Clarissa are unrealistic in that the scope and depth of the journal entries as well as the letters between characters are just too much. As much as I love both books, I had to wince through several scenes, picturing Jonathan Harker, for instance, writing extensive entries with detailed dialogue and descriptions. 

I've mentioned before that the most appropriate example of a real journal entry in Dracula would be the captain's log on board the Demeter. Short, to the point, and terrifying without blasting us with impossible details. 

But since this is also fiction and purely escapist, I'm trying to walk that tightrope that lets me provide enough information for the reader while not going overboard with it. My aim is to SUGGEST horror and terror until the penultimate scenes where Roland unravels the mystery that dogs him.

At any rate, the book's moving along -- slowly and carefully for sure, and I'm not in a rush. I want this to work. Epistolary fiction is my favorite narrative form, and it sucks that it isn't common, but I get why it isn't. 

One might argue that I'm jinxing my book by using an approach that isn't popular, but it works for the story, and that's all I need to know. 

So, yay!