The Hammer and Anvil commentary continues. SPOILER WARNING is in effect!
The Hammer of Hephaestus
From the inception of the project I knew Beth was going to be invested in finding the hammer. Her entry into the story is because of the hammer. But how did it fit with the Minotaur plot? That was what I had to figure out as I outlined the novel.
The hammer saves the day.
That was the start of it. By having the hammer integral to stopping the Minotaur, it would tie the two threads together into one explosive climax.
But it couldn’t be the hammer, per se. That was where my trouble started, and where some crafty revisions helped in the clarification of what was going on with the hammer.
Eddie’s new gift
In the first draft, the hammer of Hephaestus held all the power. With it in hand, anyone could create their every thought. Unfortunately, because of that intense power, the hammer basically took away free will.
It threw away the redemptive story of Eddie Domingo. He became the tool in the equation, and I didn’t like that angle. The hammer had to become the muse which aided in the work.
When I develop a story, character is key. The hammer was a prop piece. Eddie had to be the one to take it up and use the damn thing. That was critical in my eyes. He had to take that step forward and help.
That was when the scene at the forge was born. Beth gives Eddie the push he needs to stand up, something he has been unable or unwilling to do until this point. That turn was critical for the story to work, and it only came about thanks to delving into the hammer and the power it contained.
Following the trail
There was one huge sticking point I had with this book. Beth knew too much.
It can be a problem when it seems like your protagonist has all the answers right away. In the original draft, Beth visits the Circle of Shadows earlier (Chapter 9) to relate the missing hammer to Julian and Pratchett. She feeds them all this information about the hammer, about why it must have been stolen, yet there was never a beat where she figured it out for herself.
She simply knew it.
Not good.
So that needed a change. Big time. Instead of throwing her into the deep end immediately, I pulled the scene out and moved it to Chapter 19. It changed the ENTIRE dynamic of her story.
Now, instead of knowing everything right out of the gate, Beth gets time to investigate. She stumbles on the robberies of Eddie and Tony to gain insight into how the hammer of Hephaestus has been used. She heads to Atlas Books where she researches the subject and is then able to pick Soriya’s brain on the subject as well.
It is only after no less than four scenes take place that Beth has the information necessary to pass along to the Circle of Shadows. Even then, nothing is an absolute which it had been the first time around. There is more nuance, more questions asked than answered, in the discussion.
This was the first time I’ve had to rejigger the very structure of the book before. Sure, there have been slight shifts – a chapter or two flipped around for continuity – but never to this degree.
I think it helped tremendously in the pacing of Beth’s story, as well as the information parsed out to the reader. What do you think? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.
