As you know, I've been writing this by-the-seat-of-my-pants and it has evolved into something a bit different than I envisioned when I first started. I didn't do any character development or world building, just seeing where it would go. I start working on it in my spare time on Thursdays and by the next Tuesday it is posted. Even when I do have the characters developed and the world built, sometimes the first 10-15k of the story is an exercise in getting to know the characters, figuring what works and what doesn't and then altering things to support what's best. When pantsing that first part of the story is 100x worse.
Right now, I have a good idea what the plot is settling into being. With there being so many characters, it is going to take a few chapters to get them down. BUT while this is all happening 'organically', when I finally get a hang of the characters, their backstory, and what makes them tick, I have to go back to insert things that support that character... And those chapters have already been posted and shared, which leads me to the current issue.
While writing chapter six from Zane's POV, I was mulling over some options I'd read in some reference materials earlier in the week. I was rolling the plot ideas around while Zane is stalking a couple of creatures in a dark and cold forest when pieces of his background with both his relationship with his father and his assassin mentor fell into place. Which is GREAT but... the supporting material needs to be added to the prose PRIOR to this chapter. I think the best place to add this would be all the way back to chapter three.
Other authors with blogs stories who I've spoken to always recommended I have the story completed before splitting it up and sharing it. (Obviously, I ignored the advice otherwise I wouldn't have this conundrum. :-D) I acknowledge that having the characters mapped out before hand would have been key to keeping something like this from happening. Pantsing is fun. But this is the first time I've done it with the intention of posting the results days later. I thought I had a pretty good idea who Zane was and what his background entailed. If I had kept it contemporary and a short holiday erotic romance, what I had on Zane would've been more than sufficient. But since it evolved into a supernatural world, his background had holes. New questions popped up. Things like, had he encountered things before that boggled the mind? As observant as he is, had he ever seen hints of a otherworld? How would he react to a mythical being? Is there a figure in his past that would help anchor him as the changes to his perception of the world rocks his?
So what I'm going to do is get ahead by having several chapters under my belt before I post more chapters on the blog again. It won't be too long. I figure I'll start putting them up again on January 2nd under the new title my Facebook group helped me to pick. Assassin's Retirement: Scion of Beowulf. The whole holiday wasn't working anymore. :-D I apologize for the inconvenience!
In the meantime, I'll have other posts ready to fill the slot. I've yet to do my, "What's on the writing schedule for 2018", and I have been compiling my list of, "Favorite reads of 2017". Also! Oh, I can't forget to tell you that on December 22nd I'll be at Rhys Ford's Coffee, Cats & Murder getting up to all kinds of shenanigans. Don't miss it!
Thank you for stopping by and reading!!
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