Commentary on Day Twenty

Was it a dumb idea to be oblique about who the characters were and hide their names? Would this story work better had I named them Odysseus and Calypso on the first page?

I don’t know but you can perhaps blame it on my need to hide things in plain sight.

And so this may not persist past the edit. Who knows. I am at that point in a novel where I begin to see all the things I’d do differently or how to address various problems with the novel. Often, this means I just double back and start changing things. But in the interest of writing this live and continually steaming ahead, I’m going to just continue on to the conclusion.

I do believe this chapter would make the names of the characters known. And if not, well, perhaps readers need to spend more time with ancient poetry.

But we are nearing the ending. This is a turning point, in a way. Where Calypso understands that she is keeping him a captive. Will this lead to self reflection?

Do any gods ever wonder if their actions are justified?