Dying Embers

Today was an interesting day.

Work is still stressing me, but what do you do? I like to eat and not live in a box.

At lunch I started thinking about a scene in Paladin. Gen has been poisoned by an assassin’s blade. Her aunt pulls some strings and gets some powerful healers to help her. While thinking about this scene, a very minor character flitted through my mind and voila, she bloomed.

Not only did she bloom, but it also fleshed out the sisterhood and the Siren Song. Siren Song is the sword Gen has been given. The sword contains the spirit of a woman who is seeking to free her husband’s soul. Yeah, I know it’s a cliché plot point, but as they say, nothing new under the sun.

What really excited me was this new twist not only adds a lot of depth (and words) to the story, but it also gives me an opportunity to answer some questions without doing a lot of obvious back story.

Beth Shope said one thing Donald Maass says in his workshops is we must answer every question the reader raises. I think about that a lot.

She lay there in the dark, staring at nothing, her body perched precariously on the edge of the bed. Her heart raced, thudding urgently in her chest. Without realizing it, she was holding her breath. She breathed out deliberately, softly without a sound, listening for the rhythm of his breathing. Her eyes closed slowly. Did he hear her? Time crawled by and yet she waited and stared. Stared into the black cavern of his bedchamber. His breath was slow and steady. He sighed softly from time to time in between the deep breathing. She matched it perfectly. Minutes dragged by as her mind flew frantically like a frightened bird in a cage. Minutes turned to hours and still she lay frozen, afraid to move.

In this passage she is in bed with the demon, who has taken human form. The fire has died out, but will it die out quickly enough to make the bedchamber completely black? Dying embers make a lovely glow, but does it ruin the need for darkness later? Do I need to get rid of the fire earlier? Does it really matter? It probably does if it nags at me.

Am I obsessing over little things?

I was so excited about the revelation about the spirit walkers, I wanted to sit down right them and write the scene. Then I had some things to do tonight and now it is past bedtime and my mind is fried. Maybe in the morning.

Wouldn’t it be fun to just be able to write and not worry about jobs and chores and aching backs?

New beginning to the synopsis, which I may delete completely.

The king is missing. The infant prince is being poisoned. Guards loyal to the king are being exiled or killed. It’s a dangerous time for a sixteen-year-old girl to join a unit connected to the king’s elite Horse Guards. It’s especially dangerous for a girl who has caught the eye of a demon, a pirate and the demon caller.