As many of you know I am writing the fourth book in the Starblood series: Ribbons. I have a release date looming, although if necessary it can be postponed, and I have finished the first draft. But I am not delighted with it so I asked my editor to take a look and tell me what’s missing.
Ribbons takes place about four and a half years after Starblood, and immediately after Black Sun. Two of the main characters from books 1 – 3 are dead, and the others are stuck in a nightmare after a world-ending storms hits the globe. A new goddess is rising, a goddess of war called Morrigan, and her followers are hunting the Bringer of this Chaos – Edensun. Characters are introduced and previously secondary characters, like Marian and Donna, are developed to become main characters in this latest installment. It sounds exciting, and maybe it is. Like many authors I often like my books less than readers and critics do, so there’s that.
Thus the request for a second opinion from my editor. She hasn’t finished yet, but ¼ of the way through she said something that rang true. All the characters are too reasonable. No one has the insane spark of Satori, Star and Freya in books 1 – 3 (not even Freya who is listening to Deya and moderating her behaviour).
As some of you know the trilogy spanned the years of early motherhood and divorce in my private life. Now I’m with someone who doesn’t drive me crazy, am I more reasonable? Probably and that’s good and fine, but this is not an autobiography. Freya is just going to have to pull her weight and get a little crazy again. Poor Freya.
Once I get the full feedback I shall roll up my sleeves and get down to some serious rewriting. I already know ways to make the story much more compelling, much less balanced and reasonable, without relying solely on Freya. Ideas are gathering in my mind and notebooks. I’ve already added a scene where Freya returns home to find her bedroom has been converted to a nursery and no, she is not reasonable about it! Not at all.
