Complexities in a walnut

Hello folks!

I want to apologize for not posting much recently. I got caught up with work, as well as really planning out the rest of Dakota’s story, which has required some rather hefty thinking that, at times, has made my head hurt. In a good way. A good story should be complex because life is not simple. But creating that complexity, whether arbitrarily or through filtering what you know of your character, is a riveting and grueling process. As a story creator you need to learn to pull things out of thin air and combine them with aspects you’ve gleaned from what you already know of the story/characters, often aspects you never even thought to write, but somehow ended up with all the same. It all needs to create a complex web that has not loose ends, but rather has anchor points that are beginnings. If there are loose ends, tie them to other story lines or cut them out, or combine them. This is a back and forth that can take much much longer than you ever intended. I love the process because it forces me to approach everything more geometrically and pushes me to split my mind into many parts to consider all the plots and subplots at once.

The other challenge has been the voice of the story. I have decided to change it somewhat, but I really really believe it is for the better. And since BOOK 1 was only a 30 page short story, I really do not feel the need to base the rest of this expansive narrative on a little intro. I have been toying with the idea of posting the beginning of BOOK 2 here, but it is not ready, yet, and I may still decide not to. I’ll keep you posted. For now, be patient and I will resume posting regularly soon. Thank you!