Mark of a Goddess

Hiya Everyone! I have been dying to write my post regarding my latest fic - Mark of a Goddess. It's the book after Dragon's Moon and Mystic Wings. I resisted writing my blog about Mystic Wings until I had a complete storyboard. Well, *big smile* today I finished my storyboard for Mark of a Goddess, so I feel justified in finally writing a post about it. LUCKY!

Okay, so Dragon's Moon was action/adventure and Mystic Wings was suspense - Mark of a Goddess is going to be action/adventure. Once again, I'll state how pleasantly surprised I was that my readers hung around during the stint where Van was gone for 14 chapters. *nervous laughter* Yeah, I know, I was practically daring them to go read something else. But, the two projects were important to me, and I'm happy I was able to write something that was interesting even without Van around.

Okay, so Mark of a Goddess ... is going to be so different from the anime that I feel like it might not be able to pass for Escaflowne fanfiction. Sure, it's Van and Hitomi and the gang, but the story has a much different message than Escaflowne - the characters have different conclusions - and basically it's so far off the precedent that the anime set that I feel funny releasing it as it is. I keep telling myself that after 200,000 words taking the characters off in a different direction, I'm allowed to do whatever I think is best, but I still feel a little funny. If someone didn't read DM and MW then it will probably seem extremely weird - and I use the words loosely.

So, when I examine a story these days I try to ask myself if it's romantic. If it's got that touch of human interest that draw in the readers' emotions. I'll be honest and say that I'm having a harder time describing Van and Hitomi's relationship with any luck. They're married - so the baby's breath of romance won't cut it anymore - we're into the blood red roses section of the relationship, but I find it distastful to imply/describe too much. It's really challenging. I'm challenging myself to keep it clean and to make it ... breathtaking ... I'll find a way. But the storyboards won't help me with this part. I'll just have to listen to my three most favourite romantic songs on my playlist to inspire me for Escaflowne fics (I dont' get good vibes from everything). For your reading pleasure:

• Coldplay - The Scientist
• Cosmicity - I Want You
  
• Brave New World - Falling
  

The next thing I try to look at is the action - well, kittens, I've got that covered. It's gonna knock your socks off.

Then I look at suspense. I think it'll be good. It'll be less confusing than Mystic Wings. People wrote in all the time and said they had no idea what was going on. So, I'm working to make my writing a little more user-friendly.

The biggest problem I've encountered is chapter two. It didn't exist originally, but then I thought I'd better write it to help with that whole 'user friendly' concept that I mentioned above. It's really draining me, but I think I'll think up a way to make it better. I've got to, or I'll never release anything past chapter one.

Anyway, finishing this will be a great accomplishment for me and I'm looking forward to doing it. I've been aching to kick the marbles out of someone's head lately, and so I think this will be a good project for me.