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Notice to anyone who is reading or has read my Harvey Dent novel so far: I'm going to majorly restructure the second half. Which is to say, pretty much everything post-acid.
Because I realized that, to a certain extent, I was guilty of doing what I accused THE DARK KNIGHT of doing. Namely, having him go too crazy too quickly. I lost sight of my own goal in this depiction of Harvey, that it was no single event which pushed him over the edge, no single moment where his sanity crossed the line.
I disagree with TDK's assessment that "madness is like gravity: all it takes is a little push." It's too simplistic. There needs to be something already there before the breaking incident, and even with Harvey's history, I think it's much more important and meaningful that his downfall not be a single moment, or even a handful of moments, but rather an accumulation of events over time.
So my goal now is to rework the book's arc post-acid so that it does continue to accumulate, that just because half his face is burned off doesn't mean he automatically turns into a monster, or even a mobster. I've already started tweaking, and even the little bit I've done feels worlds better.
I made the mistake of taking this book into full-blown Two-Face territory mid-way through, when the only place for that in DENT is at the very end. When everything really *is* lost. Until then, I need to go back and add the rest of the layers that'll eventually crush the poor guy.
So yeah. If you're currently reading (or have already read) the book, know that everything after the acid is gonna be reworked in a rather major way. Let me know if you'd want to read it when the draft is done.
Because I realized that, to a certain extent, I was guilty of doing what I accused THE DARK KNIGHT of doing. Namely, having him go too crazy too quickly. I lost sight of my own goal in this depiction of Harvey, that it was no single event which pushed him over the edge, no single moment where his sanity crossed the line.
I disagree with TDK's assessment that "madness is like gravity: all it takes is a little push." It's too simplistic. There needs to be something already there before the breaking incident, and even with Harvey's history, I think it's much more important and meaningful that his downfall not be a single moment, or even a handful of moments, but rather an accumulation of events over time.
So my goal now is to rework the book's arc post-acid so that it does continue to accumulate, that just because half his face is burned off doesn't mean he automatically turns into a monster, or even a mobster. I've already started tweaking, and even the little bit I've done feels worlds better.
I made the mistake of taking this book into full-blown Two-Face territory mid-way through, when the only place for that in DENT is at the very end. When everything really *is* lost. Until then, I need to go back and add the rest of the layers that'll eventually crush the poor guy.
So yeah. If you're currently reading (or have already read) the book, know that everything after the acid is gonna be reworked in a rather major way. Let me know if you'd want to read it when the draft is done.
