This post is about 450 words. But the word ‘the’ appears 31 times.

Life in the asphalt stars

In my last writing update, I spoke briefly about my morning walking routine. It’s a way to clear the mind – really focus – on portions of the book that need more concentration or thought.

I’m pretty happy with this morning’s session. I got closer to a resolution on a pretty challenging portion of the book (more on that in a second), but I also conceived a nice bit of conflict for the protagonist of the next book.

I know, I know. That writing update specifically mentioned the importance of sticking to the book at hand. But what can I say? Like a swift river, sometimes the story carries you along. If it didn’t interweave three important characters within the Prince’s storyline, I might have let the thought pass me by. But since all three characters will appear in his first and last books, it seemed worth the extra attention this morning.

So, a little more information about this morning’s session:

1. This has been a tough one: A massive monster hunts the Princess in the first book. Yeah, yeah, spoilers. But it’s a fantasy book series–monsters are a given, right? Anyways, the monster has a primary purpose, as well as a secondary task that requires more precision than the original death-n-destruction concept. If the monster is on a collision course with our hero, I can’t have it taking detours to fulfill the needs of this other task. Now I have three possible ways to make this happen. I don’t think I’ve found perfection yet, but this is one aspect of the book that’s moved from first-draft status into second.
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2. From the first Prince book: He falls in love with a being beyond his reach – in age, intelligence, and mortality. Meanwhile, a loyal companion is unhappy at being overlooked and unconsidered in a similar manner. This might have begun an uncomfortable love triangle, though this character is in disguise and has a sense of duty that supersedes any such emotion. Consequently, I’m pretty sure the character is unable to admit whatever feelings might be developing. Apologies for the vagueness,  but ther’e a lot to flesh out; besides, if I came out and said, “The prince loves an immortal vampire, but is unaware that a werewolf loves him” that would give it all away, wouldn’t it? BTW, there is NO vampire or werewolf here.

There’s your behind-the-scenes look at the writing process for today. Thanks for reading!

–Michael