So now I’m more than half-way through my scheduled chapters: 10 out of 17 1st-draft done.

And there’s this pesky chapter that has been jumping in and out of the book, and around within the order of this book.  It’s causing more trouble again as I haven’t been able to decide which POV it needs.

Currently titled “Without Honor,” it shows a confrontation between a 1/2-djinn major character and a full-djinn: his father and the big-baddie.   Useful scene because it shows the difference in power, avoids a talking-heads scenario, and shows a lot of relationship dynamics.

I have come down to writing two versions of the scene (neither is done yet, they’re both written about to the same point– in two different nap-time writing blocks), in order to see which has more of what I want to be shown by the scene.

When viewed by Runa (the novel’s voice-of-reason character), I end up with a completely different feel and set of characters revealed than when I’m in the head of Ivan, being nearly torn-up by his father after decades of careful grooming.

Ivan’s trying to leave the djinn-world for a human life.  I imagine it’s a bit like trying to leave the mafia.

I might have to finish the whole book before I know which point of view, ultimately, will be the most useful.  The main criteria I’ll use are

• Who has the most to lose, and
• What characters need to be known best in this installment of the story.

(H/T to the Book Therapy blog.  If you had a search bar I would have linked two specific articles. :) )