Meredith Mansfield, Author

Off and on, I have been trying to decide what to do with my first novel, THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.  For starters, it needs a rewrite. It rambles too much and it got over-edited to death.  However, I still really like the characters and the story.  Plus, it’s a very rich world that I developed for that series.

One of the problems is that I think THE SHAMAN’S CURSE itself probably should be young adult. Several first readers asked if it was YA from the beginning. The main character and many of the problems he faces fit YA very well, but, if it was going to be a four-book series, then the main character would quickly get too old to be the hero of a YA novel.  What to do?

Yesterday, inspiration struck.  As usual, at the most unlikely time.  When I rewrite THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, I’ll do it with an eye towards making it YA. 

I’ll have to ditch, at least for now, the middle two books. THE IGNORED PROPHECY is written and the plot for TROUBLED COUNSELS is laid out.  That’s okay. I learned a lot from writing–and rewriting (several times)–THE IGNORED PROPHECY.  That effort will never be wasted. Someday, inspiration may strike and I’ll revive it.

For now, however, I will plan to move on to what would have been the fourth book, still untitled. However, I will focus on two younger characters instead of the main character of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. He’ll still be there, but his kid sister will take more of the role of main character, thus keeping it firmly in the YA camp.

Ha!  No telling how long it will take me to work back around to this project, but at least now I know what I want to do.

I love it when a plan comes together.