This post was completely unplanned. In fact, this entire day has been unplanned from the start. Usually, I wake up, eat breakfast with the family, take the kids to school, then come back and write until lunchtime. Today though, I woke up and had the hardest time staying awake. No amount of coffee helped, and I sat at my writing laptop...just staring at my monitor.
Let me share my screen...
As you can see on the left, there are a ton of folders that are color-coded. Each folder represents a character's POV. It's easier for me to quickly identify a character's story progress in the main timeline with the color icons. But after Friday's writing session, I had come to a point in the plot that needed more story between the characters to smooth out their POV's 'crossing over.' As you can imagine, this requires an immense amount of thought process and focus when taking on this task. (Side note, I run into this sort of situation every month or so, especially during my first and second full manuscript revision.) Needless to say, when I stared aimlessly at my computer screen this morning, I couldn't muster up the energy or strength to sort though that hot mess. Instead, I had to take a nap, even though I had just woke up just two hours prior.
After my nap, I had a filling lunch (burgers and a bottled mocha, which I NEVER do), and had gained a little energy to at least tackle and jot down a plan for tomorrow's writing session. Whew! Where I will be starting tomorrow's writing session is with the two characters that you see above. This art, by the way, has never been released until now. I have/had a Patreon that featured 'Character of the Month.' These two were never selected, so the art was never released until this moment. This art will be included in my third book (my current WIP) 'Fragments of the Heart.' The boy on the left is 'Jihyun' and the girl on the right is 'Gwen.' I absolutely adore these characters. And truth be told, they were NOT planned in the overall story. At all. I don't even like writing about kids or teens. Not that I don't like them, but I focus on adult characters because I write 'adult fantasy.' That's what my series is classified as. But any world, regardless of what type of fantasy it is - there are kids somewhere! It cannot be ignored. In fact, I felt that I would be doing a disservice to my readers if I didn't include younger characters. Turns out, writing these younger characters have changed my own perspective on writing as a whole. And here we are...they now have a full-fledged storyline.
Sketches are of Gwen and Jihyun. First sketch is from my second book 'Fragments of the Mind' and the second sketch is from my current WIP. Anywho, until next time. I do plan on posting about a few cool things this week. Stay tuned!