The first delay came because I didn't have a third couple
for a trilogy idea. I thought about just doing two couples, but it made the arc
unbalanced. It really needed that third story. Then one day as I was looking
back on past work that hadn't gone anywhere, I saw one of my old couples and I
realized I still wanted to write them.
It was a new experience, bringing a couple from a previous
world into different one. The characters changed because their life experiences
had changed who they were. We are a sum of our experiences after all. And the
hero's name also changed, which was also interesting to me. Those of you who
follow this blog know that I don't get to pick my characters' names. They tell
me who they are.
The project's second delay came in because the other two
couples—the ones who were in the story for a while and waiting for the third
couple—weren't working. Oh, I tried to make them work, but there was no
chemistry between them. So I swapped them.
That was another new experience for me and I was afraid
they'd balk, but they didn't. The new pairings work much better and there's
actually heat now.
The final big delay came in with book order. I put together
a series overview and I struggled with the arc. It wasn't coming together in a
logical way and it felt off. I also had a great deal of trouble getting my h/h
to kick off the series. Then one Saturday, I had an epiphany—switch the books
around. I debated, though. I hadn't needed to do this before either, but when
my writing buddies suggested the same thing, I decided to do it.
First, I rewrote the series overview and switching the stories
around eliminated some of the big issues I wash having with the arc. Then I
started working on the new opening story and it's actually going fairly well. I
was hoping to have a draft done by the end of the month, but I'm not going to
make it.
