The Ripple Effect

As most of you know, my completed novel, Fury, has been on the shelf for a while (as in my shelf at home, in third draft form). I've tried recently to pick it up and edit it for the last time before I scrape up a query letter and synopsis, but my attitude is still blase. 

And on top of all that, I had an idea. You can call it a "what if".

What if I changed the setting of my story? What if instead of it being a typical fantasy background, I set it in the modern day? What kind of complications would that produce? How would Fury survive? Could she survive? 

Lots of intriguing questions. But there is another one that is even more important:

Would it work?

Let's say that it would. A modern setting would mean getting rid of some of the main plot points. A modern-day Caden probably wouldn't set out on a quest to solve a curse for his one true love. He'd be cruising around in a sports car looking tough. Which would mean that I would have to find a different reason for him to go searching for Fury. Endless possibilities.

So, will I do it?

Nah, probably not. First things first: Fury is hideously deformed. In the here and now, we're not very nice and Fury would be hard-pressed to escape EVERYONE. Sure, she could keep to the forest but then what would be the point of having a modern setting? 

It's intriguing to think about, however. Changing one thing in a story can have a ripple effect. You think that something like Where wouldn't be that relevant, especially if it's a character-driven story, but it is, and I find that amazing.

Things besides setting can have the same effect. One sentence can change a whole scene. It sounds crazy and intense, but that's how it is. I'm discovering that in Dragon Queen. I'm playing with a scene right now. Last night I had an idea on how to introduce Drake back into the story, but in order to do that, I have to change almost everything that I have written for Ch. 19. And then there is everything that follows that just doesn't fit anymore. It's frustrating sometimes. But that's just another one of the many joys of writing. 

What happens when characters have minds of their own . . .

If you're familiar with the writing world, or if you have a friend who happens to write, you will have heard that familiar exclamation, "My characters ran away with me again!"

Most of the time, this is a very good thing. It means that your plot goes somewhere new and exciting, and you have rounded characters that will intrigue the reader just as much as you.

Or, there is the second option: This character totally destroys the plot you had in mind for your book. For example: Say we have a typical fairy tale. Prince is supposed to save princess from ugly troll. Now, let's pretend the writer in question wants this to be a typical prince-rescues-princess-happily-ever-after-story. Nothing wrong with that (unless, of course, she's trying to publish this). Anyway, things are progressing as planned when WHAM! One of the characters decides they don't like the way things are going and becomes "difficult". Let's say, in this instance, that the prince is actually homosexual, but never realized it until he falls madly in love with ugly-troll. The writer never intended for the hero to be homosexual, but he is. And he refuses to be otherwise. Plot foiled.

I'll admit, that's a pretty outrageous example. Those of you who aren't writers are probably completely lost. How can a character control a story? Isn't that the writer's job?

Erm, yes. But when a character grows, things sort of happen that the writer cannot completely predict. For example, in Dragon Queen, there are all sorts of characters doing this to me. Drake. Mikkay. Lace. King Traigon (Jade's father). Honey. I have been lucky so far, however, in that these unexpected manifestations of personality have not wrecked my plot, but enhanced it. Whew! Thank goodness.

Drake pulled the first surprise. When I first began the book, Drake was just an ordinary human-dragonslayer. But then his eyes started to glow. He became really intense, and before I knew it--he was a dragon! Instead of being miffed, I basked in his glory. (And thankfully that happened fairly early in the book, so I hadn't even gotten to a part I needed to change.) But that's really the only one of my character's secrets I can share (as the rest have not revealed theirs yet to my readers on the WD forum and I don't want to ruin it for them). 

I will reveal, however, that Lace surprised me the most. Really. And I'm just dying to see what the forum thinks of her after they have a little insight into her character! Unfortunately, that's about 7 chapters away! Ahh!

The Dragon Queen--Questions

I have reached Chapter 24 in Dragon Queen. That's about 53K words. I have the feeling I'm about 2/3 of the way done, but I don't know. Things keep popping in to surprise me and twist my plot in a direction I did not foresee.

For example, when I first began this book, I had a general idea of where I wanted it to go: Girl marries dragonslayer, girl becomes Dragon Queen, Dragon Queen fights with dragonslayer . . . but I didn't really have any idea after that. Normally, I don't. I just kind of let my novels take me where the will. (Not that I don't have some structure, but I do have a lot of free room for my first draft.)

Second idea: Adding on to first--but dragonslayer is not main enemy; introduce Darion, who ends up being Dragonslayer's twin brother (I have a fascination with twins); now, it's DQ vs. Darion a.k.a. The Dark One; and all this led to the question (which should have been in my mind in the beginning): Who is the DQ? What is her purpose? Why Jade specifically?

These questions are what has thrown a monkey wrench into the gears. The DQ's original purpose was to reunite Yealanthe. Okay, why was Yealanthe divided? There was a war. What kind of war? A civil war? Between who? Darion and his brother. Why them? Uh...

And this is where I flipflopped for a long time. What would make Darion and his brother, Drake, go to war against each other? Obvious answer: control of Yealanthe. But Drake isn't a power hungry dragon, so why would he even get involved? Answer: The land was divided between Darion and Drake. But Darion wanted Drake's land, so he declared war on him. (Okay, following me so far?) Drake fought back.

Enter the Dragon Queen. (Now, here's where it gets tricky.) A rumor arises about a very special woman. Born beneath the thirteenth sky, both dragon and human, she carries enormous powers. Darion immediately sets out to find her. Drake does the same. Darion finds her first.

WAIT!

I know, I've confused you. Those of you who have followed my posts on Writer's Digest Sci-Fi/Fantasy Forum are completely bewildered right now. Because Darion doesn't find Jade, does he? 

No. He doesn't. Drake does. And he marries her. Right-o.

But Darion found the first Dragon Queen. (And I'm going to stop there before I give too much away.)