February 9, 2020

Self Discipline

As an act of self-discipline, this post is generated in a writing break today - otherwise I won't remember to do it.
Currently titled Dragon Storm - but only in draft because that title is in plenty of other places - the fantasy project is now past 60,000 words today, with the fifth key character introduced.

I've been wrestling with multiple ways from the outset how to introduce what are effectively five disparate characters who will be brought together in the one major event. I considered multiple devices, but I've settled on four of them having 4-5 chapters to open the series - enough time for the reader to get to know a little about the character and their circumstance. Each set of chapters do end at a point hopefully leaving the reader wanting to know what will happen to them next. Readers will judge that. I like it - but, hey, I'm just the writer.

Oh, the fifth character? She gets her intro early in Book Two.

60,000 words puts me just short of halfway into Book One. What will follow now is the drawing together of the characters into the bigger conflict unfolding while they are resolving their own personal conflicts in different ways as I head for the close of the first book.

Because this is a project blog, there will be many spoilers as I discuss what I'm doing. It is what it is.

The first key character I'm developing is the Dragon Queen. She is caught up in the ambitions of her dragon culture to seek revenge against humans, and this she is pursuing, but dragons have the ability to use magic, including the ability to polyform into human form. As a dragon, their scale and hide strength is almost unparalleled, but they lose all their dragon ability in human form and are therefore extremely vulnerable - exactly as the species they become. The impact of this transformation on the Dragon Queen will be to influence her attitude toward humans as the tale unfolds until she is caught in an ethical dilemma...

The second key character is Ven, fundamentally a ruthless underworld boss who seeks power and fortune. He is driven by his own form of ethics, but his relationship with a child eventually also creates an ethical imperative that takes him on a pathway that collides with the other key characters.

The third key character, Ara, twin prince of Domovina, makes a decision that leaves him leading a kingdom under direct threat from the dragons despite a prophecy that named his twin brother as the one to lead the fight.


The fourth key character, Jai, is a girl unwittingly caught up in the unfolding events after trying to spy on the Domovinan princes. In the misogynistic Domovinan culture, she inherits the legacy of women without understanding its import until circumstance teaches her otherwise.

I'll write about the fifth character when we reach that part of the tale.

The bleeding obvious is that all five characters are embroiled in the one conflict, taking sides and struggling with their ethical and not-so-ethical decisions. Growing the characters is my current challenge.

​Next instalment will be around world-building, hopefully next week.