This past week was an important one in my as yet unnamed second Dragon Island Legends book. I had some time off and was planning to get some writing done. It turns out that I managed to write about 1,200 words. The book's length is now about 5,500 words. I wish I could have written more.
However, it turns out the writing was secondary. For months, all of 2026 in fact, I've been struggling with a major plot point/motivation. Shadra, the main character, had to accomplish something. I knew what the outcome should be, but I did not know how she was going to get it done without going against everything that I thought the character should be and represent.
I puzzled and puzzled over it. It was such a big issue that I considered delaying starting the book. However, I had decided that I should start and see if the characters untied the knot on their own. As I was writing, though, I realized that it wasn't going to happen that way. It seems the characters were as much in the dark as I.
So, I decided to lock myself in a room, sit down, and hash it out no matter how long it took. It actually did not take as long as I thought. Within a day, I'd come up with a decent idea and scribbled everything down. Now I've got a semi-complete outline, although I'm sure there will be a few more items to work out as I go.
The good thing is most of the heavy lifting is now done (I hope). The only thing remaining is to actually write the rest. I'll update you on how that goes in my next Writer's Week.
Peace
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