Ferris Wheel

I just finished draft #2 of chapter 2 from my novel. If writing draft #1 is fun, and is more of a method to spew out all of the ideas that you have, then draft #2 is the necessary step, in which you have to pay attention to all of the technical details, like plot holes, symbolism, importance of certain characters (in my case, I'm adding on a new character), scene weaves, and so on. The new character is the ten-year-old protege of the military general (though I'm currently wondering if he should be a marshal or a captain of the guards), who I mentioned in my blog rebirth post. His name is Veikko, which is a Finnish name that I thought suited him. He was adopted from an orphanage by the general, and is described as a dark-haired boy with "hollowed cheeks and colorless skin that made him look like a ghost."

During the middle of chapter 2, Veikko goes to an amusement park with my main character, Satu, who had just turned eleven years old in my novel. He's a very solemn, quiet boy, whose shyness is often mistakened by Satu for rudeness or a strong dislike of her. When Satu and Veikko go on the ferris wheel together, and the ferris wheel stops while they're up in the air, Veikko confesses to her that this is the first time he has ever felt what it's like to have a family, to go out and have fun with a family at an amusement park. He tells her, "I wish time would just stop, just like how this ferris wheel has stopped moving. If today never ends, then I can always feel happy." I guess one theme I'm exploring in the novel is how life is always moving, always fluctuating from happiness to sadness, and never ending, the way a ferris wheel always goes up and and down.

Here are two songs that helped me set the mood for my ferris wheel scene. The first is "Paranoid Circus" by Lyriel, and the second is "Perfect Stranger" from the Taiwanese drama TV show Black and White.