Meredith Mansfield, Author

When I rewrote the original versions of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE

and THE VOICE OF PROPHECY,

I was essentially polishing and tightening a story that was already there. Essentially, just applying the improved writing craft I’d learned since I first wrote those stories.

MAGE STORM is turning out to be a different problem. For one thing, I’m making the main character a bit older in this version. And so, some things that worked before, with a younger character, have to be significantly changed for this version because the character’s reactions would just be different.

I’ve been stuck for days on a particularly thorny chapter near the beginning. Actually right around the Key Event (in the Three-Act Story Structure).  In case you’re not familiar with that, the key event is what makes the hero (who may have been pushing the story problem off for others to solve up ’til this point) becomes personal to the hero. So, it’s not a trivial place in the story. It’s one of those turning points that need to be really, really right.

It’s not that I haven’t been making progress, though it feels like two steps forward and three sideways, some of the time. But some of what was there just really won’t work that well in this version. And they tie to other places, so any change proliferates.

This isn’t going to be as quick or as easy as I was hoping.

Then again, what is? Ever? And what fun would that be?