Fish Markets in 19th Century Marseille

My new approach to structuring my "working time" is to focus on one project for a week, then move to a different focus the next week. This is as contrasted with trying to work on multiple projects every day, or doing one-day focuses. So far, I feel like it's being productive. The week timeframe means that I have a chance to get my feet underneath me, get into a deep-focus zone, and get substantial work done.

I had one previous fiction week where I picked a random in-process short story and got it through to a finished draft. (It's currently "aging" for a while before I touch it again.) This week I opened up the files for Mistress of Shadows, Alpennia #5. Monday, I read through the first two chapters of existing material, doing the sort of light edits that you always do when re-reading something. I also made some notes for different directions I wanted to go than my current outline notes. (Minor stuff. Mostly I decided that I really did need to kill off a side character who only shows up in the first chapter. I tried to avoid killing her, but I need to traumatize my protagonist, and also she's partially based on a real historical figure who was murdered.)

Today I started seriously working on new text in the first chapter. This involved a fair amount of going back and checking my research notes. Things that had previously been embedded in my consciousness have faded and I think I need to really dig into the background material again. But I also needed to pin down some concrete facts. Because in this scene (which is backstory set in 1815, before we jump to the "current" timeline of the books) I need my character to encounter the anti-Bonapartist riots in Marseille, the week after Waterloo, which turned into anti-immigrant riots (specifically, anti-Egyptian), giving her the impetus to agree to a devil's bargain for safety for her family that structures the rest of her story arc.

For that, I needed to figure out the most likely locations and progress of the riots relative to other relevant sites, specifically the Egyptian community on Cours Goffé, and a reason for her to be in the downtown area. A fish market--that's a good excuse for her to be there with her mentor. Yes, that works. Ok, where would the major fish market have been located in 1815? And does that location work for what I need to happen?

Two hours later...

This week I hope to get the first chapter solidly drafted. (Chapter 2 is already complete.) And maybe also review the detailed outline, since I've made some philosophical changes to how I want to handle point of view. All the previous books have been told from a specific set of points of view, one per chapter, always limited to the central protagonists. But that has gotten unwieldy. I need to show some things that none of my central characters are present for. And I simply can't manage the logistics of one-viewpoint-per-chapter at this point.

Once I've immersed myself in the outline and existing research, I expect things will progress more quickly. I hope.