I was so bad! I forgot to put the next page of Sacred Knight up on the site last night. It hadn't started off very well, but let's just say that two Tylenol, two St. John's Wort, and a Valerian Root made things much better. Half an hour later and the world was once again filled with relaxed and sleepy colors. Didn't bode well for the things I wanted to get done though. I have put the next page up now though and I'll try to be better (no promises).
Don't worry. I did spend some time working on the second book. You know what? I'm getting tired of phrasing it that way. The working title (and most likely the title it'll end up with) is The Saint and The Betrayer. From now on, I'll reference it like I do when I'm making notes -- as SKL2 (meaning Sacred Knight - Legend 2). I started calling my chapters as Legends because in mangas like Immortal Rain, I saw that the artist titled each chapter as Cross 1, Cross 2, etc. and I really liked that. First I did it with Weblinks, calling each chapter a "Bite." It took me forever to come up with "Legend" for Sacred Knight. So, I started calling each chapter a Legend when I was working on the graphic novel. Just to confuse myself, I started calling the book SKL1 (meaning Sacred Knight - Legend 1). I hope that I remember that L1 mean the chapter 1 whereas SKL1 (in most circumstances) referred to the book. Nothing like the author trying to confuse herself! Now, when I talk about it, you'll understand my abbreviations.
Do you ever have obvious syncronicity in your life where you know you're getting a message for a reason? I do often and I'm learning to trust that feeling more. Last night I was looking for an art book. I came across another book that is called Trust the Process. It's about letting the creativity just flow in the direction that it wants to. Sometimes it gets a little too analytical for me, but maybe that's because I'm usually reading before bed and big words on a tired brain is never a good thing. Maybe it's because the visual art that's entered my life really has made me into more of a right brained person. I paused to really look at it and read the title. "Trust the process." It seemed to speak to me and I knew I had to let something flow.
A couple nights ago I had started writing a part of SKL2 that felt weird. While writing, I got an idea that would make a significant change to the story. I let it go until I decided if I wanted to keep it or not. Every so often through the next day, I let my mind ponder this change. I talked with my youngest son about the change. Of course that's hard because I don't want to give him too many spoilers -- I want him to find surprises in the story as he reads it too. But this was too good to keep to myself.
So last night with this message delivered to me, I'm writing along and I'm still not sure about this change or not. Writing, writing, writing. Then BOOM! I know I have to make the change. I'm still not sure why though. I'm not even sure at this point why I'm writing this -- I don't even like what I've written. My characters have taken control and won't give it back.
Then while getting ready for work this morning, it hits me! If I make the change, then it adds this extra dimension to my heroine. She's not stupid, she has already figured out what I'm just beginning to realize. Now I really don't have the choice, but to make the change -- she's made certain of that! Outsmarted by the characters - doh! But now I have more insight into her motivations and her fears.
More than that, when I was driving home today, I realized why I was writing the scene I was on. I didn't know where it was going and what purpose it served, but I was trying to build up one aspect of the story. What I didn't realize was that the heroine was also positioning herself in such a way that aids me in the getting a fact to the reader that will be a necessary clue later on. It amplifies the change I need to make. The whole thing came together like a knitted piece.
None of this would've been possible if I hadn't just trust the process. Sometimes those characters have to get away and go running in directions you don't expect. Trust them. Usually they know something you don't. So much of this whole story has been written because I was just trying a situation out with the characters. I'm glad that the several times I questioned where I was going with the story, I didn't decide to start a new draft, but kept pressing forward. I didn't have the feeling that I was absolutely off-track. A good friend of mine once told me that if I was off-track, just go back to where you last felt you were on-track and move forward from there. It's been good advice I've listened to often.
So, writers, if you feel off-track with your story, make a new draft and go back to where you last felt comfortable with it. Otherwise, trust the process and keep moving forward. You might be surprised where it leads you!
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