Painting Myself Out of the Corner

I am painting myself out of the proverbial corner. Partly, it’s the dreaded “time to pay the piper,” and partly it’s a thrill. Ending up in this situation isn’t a surprise. There is even a delight in answering the “how are those problems going to get worked out” question.

Much like paying with credit, it was easier to push the problems down the line and deal with them later. Yet, much like paying with credit, this “winging it” style hems you in.

The silver lining is creativity tends to flourish when hemmed in.

All the Wrong Questions

Earlier, I said the Casey Jackson in Southacre series was too “on the nose” from a different series of books. So much so that I don’t feel good about turning them into Chapter by Chapter podcast episodes.  I love the series and hope to do more with the character. But, as-is, they mirror a series by Lemony Snicket called “All the Wrong Questions.” 

With each book, I focus on a new skill. At that time, the skill was to have discreet stories per book and one “meta” story throughout the series.

The Snicket series has these perfect setups and payoffs, sometimes books apart. I loved that because I entered the Pearl Saga without a clear “worldbuilding.” Though I had grown to embrace outlining a book, I was still “pantsing” my way through the series.

Here are some of the issues I need to deal with – with which to deal – in Book the Third.

The scene in “Showdown” where Monterey Jack has a dream of soldiers in golden armor fighting a battle. That dream should have a payoff.

• What or Who is Lillian as a symbol? Is she a symbol? Does it matter?
• Should I change heroes again?
• Should I make another massive time-hop?
• How do Evan and Katherine’s tattoos work?
• What are the issues between the Coellum and the Merlain?

These questions don’t keep me up at night but occupy more brain space than I’d like.

I Need a Hero

My idea was to have different heroes in different eras in each book. The Pearl and Eye Patch would serve as the series hero-villain combo. The “twist” was having a woman be Book Three’s hero.

The more I played with the lone female hero, she kept showing up as uninteresting.  She struggled with passivity and whininess and stumbled through the plot. This is the typical hero I write about – about which I write. I would like to imagine I can craft better than that by now.

The tattoos seemed like they should be for something, too. Should Evan’s be transferred to the new hero? How would the transfer work? Every idea seemed ridiculous and unbelievable (like inter-dimensional tattoos happen often). My most dramatic “solution” involved an energy storm in Evan’s nursing home room. Then, at its height, Amanda (the new hero and Evan’s nurse) grabbed his hand, and the tattoo moved to her palm.

Cheese.

Then everything I developed after that seemed like a bad knock-off of The Hunger Games.

I decided to keep Book the Third as a continuation of Shell Game. The focus moved to Gold’s marriage to bring more attention to Katherine Gold and her issues.  Katherine checked the female hero box, but now I had two “heroes” to maintain. Yet, she helped solve the tattoo question as they used both tattoos to launch them into Act 2.

Tying the Ends of the Metastory

The next problem was the conflict between the Coellum and the Merlain. The Coellum are Lillian’s people, and the Merlain are Eye Patch’s. There’s a war between them, and I must bring that situation to a successful conclusion. After all, that is the series’ metastory.

The Golds are crucial to the end of the war, and the war is vital to healing their marriage. So, they need guides as much as they need to guide. But guide what? This led to a third “hero” (currently named Amnon Saxe), a native of this new world. He needed to be an essential player in the metastory. Then, Amnon needed the help of other natives’ help to win the war.

More heroes and guides.

Then, Eye Patch needs to get his comeuppance… and… and… and…

I’d created something more like the first Avengers movie! So many relationships and story arcs. This was way beyond anything I felt comfortable writing. I’m confident I’ve bitten off more than I could chew.

As of this writing, I’ve outlined out of Act 2 and started into Act 3. I’m still enjoying the process and trying not to rush the ending. It’s tempting because I want to get to writing chapters. I think I like this journey through the outline the best, though. And I think I know where it’s headed.

I’ll keep you posted.