InsaneJournal

Current mood:

contemplative

Huh...that might work.
Just a couple of updates. First, I don't know what I have, but I am feeling cruddy. I have packed sinuses, a cough, and fatigue. Last night, I couldn't eat dinner. I took two bites and started barfing. So I had to make do with only having milk, ice cream, and snack cakes. Everything tasted weird, so I'm not sure if I have a cold or if my MS is acting up again. Every time it acts up, I stop being able to taste things properly.

In writing news, I've started another story, this one continuing the progress of Jobe and Gavin. This is going well, and I know how most of this story will play out, in theory. The problem is, I may have just thrown a wrench into my own machine.

For a while now, I've been pondering the fate of a character. I've had to ask myself whether or not I should just kill them and move on, or whether I should later resurrect them using the trusty unreliable narrator method. This was the original plan, and changing it would have major implications for the the rest of the outline. But lately, I've had doubts about bringing this character back, because there's already someone else who dies and will come back. I'm planning stuff to happen over a lot of novels, and over a very big cast. But it seems to me like I should only try to go to that cliché one time in the entire series.

I went over to the horror forum, which is becoming the place I usually go first for writing advice. One writer offered a short question as their answer: which serves the story best? This led me to believe that it really was for the best to stick with the original plan.

However, a few other writers tried offering suggestions to make sure the character can be dead, but still a part or the overall plot. Obviously, a ghost angle might be possible, but there's logistics issues that need to be worked out.

Which brings me back to the story about Jobe and Gavin. If I accept that the other character died, then I can create an "Intermission," or a series of breaks in the main story to move another character into the time line. Previously, this person was a bit character, and I never was sure what to do with her. She'd remain something of a bit character in this next story, but the general idea would be to push her into a more prominent role in the overall series.

And so I'm temporarily stuck, because both ideas sound equally good. The original plan would continue the development of a major villain. The alternative is passing the role off to the character's half-sister. And since I needed to do something with her, this would be a fantastic chance to help her grow from her lowly origins into a character of real substance. Almost all of the character's issues and abilities are shared by their half sister, so a lot of the original outline can remain intact, with only minor tweaking here and there.

So...what to do? I must ponder this more.

Later..