APB for folks reading (or who have read) DENT

[thehefner]

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.

Comments

[nectarousness.livejournal.com]

Yay! Sign me up, I want to read it when you're done.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Rest assured, you were already on the list! :)

[nectarousness.livejournal.com]

Can't wait! :D

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

I want in, despite the fact that I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth.

I do want to confirm with you that I think that you did a really good job of building up the pressure on Harvey to the day of the Maroni trial - it was believable torture on the poor guy, and my first thought was that those stresses might be enough to push Harvey into insanity (he's holding on so damned hard). But I'm also rather tender-hearted on poor Harv- a lot more so than the writers at DC, so maybe the story does need more heartbreak before Harv breaks.

I might suggest in passing, that you look at the situation of how the named "Two-Face" starts to stick to Harv, tho. As I recall, you wrote him as not really *caring* that much about Two-Face, that it was just a name people called him and as long as they didn't call him Harvey, it was all the same to him. It seemed.... a little off. It always seemed to me that DC villains, particularly the twisted ones in Batman, always seemed to embrace their criminal identity to the exclusion of the old one; they were remaking themselves in a new image with a purpose. (Think of Joker and those playing cards, for one.)

With Harv, I'm not sure if that's a tradition you'd want to follow, or deliberately subvert. He seems to fall into the role of the villain sometimes without any thought, stuck with following the coin however it goes, but then again, that's part of his insanity- he wants to not have to choose. Having the name and identity come to him might work with that, or it might not.

Gah, I feel like I need quotes to back this up better, and it's been waaay to long for me to make this kind of analysis without the page in front of me, but I wonder if you have thoughts on the idea.

And, on a another note, if you find yourself with some free time (HA!) to read something, I would recommend Jim Butcher's THE DRESDEN FILES. It features Harry Dresden- you can find his number in the Chicago phone book. Under "Wizards".

[rosered2318.livejournal.com]

a friend of mine just recommended the Dresden files to me - she said they were hilarious

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

Zombie dinosaur. I kid you not.

[rosered2318.livejournal.com]

that's exactly what she said!

[nectarousness.livejournal.com]

Dresden Files is awesome. I read the first 2 books. Wasn't there a show of it at some point?

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

Yes, which is on Hulu, but the show loses much of the book- my favorite character doesn't exist in the show at all, and they've cut out a lot of the more expensive to shoot background for the books. My advice- read the books first.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Here's what I'm thinking: instead of breaking all the way after the acid, what happens is that 1.) he and his other side split off enough that he starts acknowledging the other voice as a separate presence, one which IS murderous but he still thinks of himself as not a killer, of wanting to avoid murder, and 2.) he feels helpless and incapable of choosing anything, crippled, and starts using the coin. So I think that'll work as a good "snapping" in a subtler way that will lead up to the greater explosion later. If I can pull it off. He's still crazy this way! He's just not RAR RAR ARGLE BARGLE crazy.

I want to actually have him build up to the Falcone Massacre this way (I'm losing Rupert Thorne almost entirely, and did your version have Carl Grissom too? Yeah, he's also gone. It becomes all about Falcone after the acid), have him try to save the East End through blackmail and extortion, and little by little show the cracks and compromises as he goes from still genuinely wanting to helping Gotham to his own rage and disillusionment taking over as it all crumbles around him. I think the difference now is that Harvey sees himself slipping into the role of villain, and is constantly making excuses for it (it's for the greater good, we can still help them, it's all what the coin says) all the way up to his breakdown.

Since the draft you have, I actually went and took out all the "Two-Face"'s, just having him be two Harvey Dents. I couldn't help but wince every time I wrote the name Two-Face, it always felt corny and forced to me. But now, considering that I'm thinking of having the gangster life be almost thrust upon Harvey (instead of him just jumping at it), there might yet be a use for having him branded with such a moniker.

Aye, several of my friends seem to be DRESDEN fans! I should check him out, even if the concept makes me feel like he's a bit of a John Constantine rip. Is he not?

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. This angle on Harv might work well. I really really want to see the newest draft.

I can't say for sure on the Constantine-rip angle, having read almost nothing of him. In tone, I think there is a difference- most of the Constantine I've seen has been very dark and morally ambiguous. Dresden is snarky and obnoxious more than depressing, and he's *good*. Just down to his socks, he's a good decent loyal guy. He's also so chivalrous that it's a gaping hole in his defense, and he knows it, and can't fix it- the man cannot stand to hit a girl, even if said girl is a vampire who could rip him in half without breaking a sweat.

As a character, I just really like Harry. He's snarky, he acts like a cynic and then rushes in headlong to save his friends knowing he's going to get his ass killed, he doesn't get laid for four years because he can't get over his old girlfriend, he's pissed off at the Powers-That-Be for putting the status quo over what's right.... and he's based out of Chicago, where I will soon live.

But if there is one reason to read this series that encapsulates all that is awesome about Harry Dresden, it is this:

HE RIDES A ZOMBIE TYRANOSAUR INTO BATTLE AGAINST THE UNDEAD.

Need I say more?

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

That sounds much, much better.

Re. Dresden Files: fairly fun, but not, in my opinion, the best thing since sliced bread. Still, worth a read.

I actually highly enjoyed the show. I saw it first, then read the books, and liked the changes that they had made for the TV version.

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

Yes!!! Definitely and absolutely.

[swimpenguin.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious to read some (don't know how fast I can finish it) Have you read the second part of Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I couldn't give it a deep, take-my-time reading as I'd have liked, just a quick once-through in the comic shop. But I... *think* I liked it. It wasn't what I expected, and I'm glad it wasn't all part of the brainwashing he endured in FINAL CRISIS, I'd have hated that shit... but I think I need to read them back to back and take my time once it comes out collected.

[lairdofdarkness.livejournal.com]

I feel I have missed out somehow!!
Please put me on the list to read the whole thing once complete. I really enjoyed the snippet you posted a while ago (where is the time going?)
Glad you are finally putting out there in one form or another. The danger is that you could get hung up on editing and re-editing. Letting some people read the latest draft is a good way of limiting that.
Anyway Yay for Hef!!

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Dude! Yeah, of course, I'll totally put you on the list! Thankya!

[bitemetechie.livejournal.com]

Y'know, handsome, I think I'll just put off reading any more of the novel until you can hover over my shoulder while I'm doing it. That way you can point and say, "I'm changing this and this and that and here's why..." so I know what the heck is going on with all these revisions :P

I'D LIKE TO READ, PLEASE

[greedyslayer.livejournal.com]

Well damn, I just saw this, but I definitely want to read your newest draft, please. :D

(Y'know, I never noticed before, that assessment you made about your novel--I'll have to look it over again and see if I agree, 'cause it did feel like an accumulation of events leading up to his downfall then.)