92: Dougga’s Introduction
8/23/2015
I just finished Chapter Four with Dougga hiding under his mother’s platform. It took me two days. One day was spent going through my notes and selecting the tidbits I’d need, and thinking about how to approach this and what precisely needs to take place.
The whole concept of placing him under his mother’s hut, hiding within the scaffolding there, came just from browsing through my village architecture notes. I tried putting in a monitor lizard that ate a camouflaged stick-insect, but it didn’t fit so I had to cut it.
The actual writing of it took all of the second day, though the chapter was only 4 ½ pages long. I spent a couple hours per paragraph trying to get the scenery and Dougga’s physical descriptions right, but the dialogue went quickly.
I love how it turned out. Some bits were even better than I hoped for on the final reading. Always a nice thing.
Present-Day Reflection
8/25/2026
Dougga is one of those characters for whom I have a really firm grasp on who he is and how he’s going to change over the course of the series. Drastic changes, though more in terms of behavior than in his core nature. His core remains relatively stable, but how he responds to his circumstances, and the behavioral choices he makes, will gradually shift to the polar opposite of what they are in his childhood.
