Meredith Mansfield, Author

BEYOND THE PROPHECY is ready to go out to my beta readers.

And I’ve just started the fourth (and final) book in the Dual Magics series. Yeah, I’ve written a whole 1600 words, but it is a start.

Beginnings are hard. Even in an ongoing series when you’re already very familiar with the characters and the world, it’s still hard. And you never really know where the story should start until you write the end.

Two scenes in and I’ve already decided that I need to back up just a little. Not that I think the story has started in the wrong place, but that I want to find a way to give the beginning a little more action. I think I see a way to do that.

Part of the problem with this beginning is that I have two conflicting issues.

1. Every book in this series has started with Vatar. And I really want this one to start there, too.
2. But the place where the main conflict is introduced necessarily centers on another character who has put herself in a position to discover the enemies plans. She’s not a major character and I don’t want the first chapter to be from her POV. Chapter 2, fine, but not Chapter 1.

So, I need to start with Vatar. Not–yet–with the main conflict. But with something at least a little exciting (this is the book where all the conflicts blow up, after all) and something that’s important to the overall story.

This is why beginnings are hard, but I think I see a way to do that. We’ll see.