When in Doubt, Send in the Assassins!
I first wrote a large chunk of Dark One’s Bride way back in November of 2013, not long after Dark One’s Mistress was originally published. Back then, it was the second of a duology. And, technically, complete.
But it felt rushed, especially the second half which became Dark One’s Wife. Whilst struggling on with a self-edit, I lost all enthusiasm for it. Even after levering my mental crowbar into the plot and cracking it into two books. Yes, there’s now more time to flesh out people, voice fears and…
Well, for some time, I’ve wondered what direction to take it. After the emotion-filled ride In Pain and Blood gave me, Dark One’s Bride seemed so… boring. In part, that is likely because of a little voice that pipes up insisting that I’m done with this story, I’ve written and rewritten so many times that it feels like I’ve completed several times over. Except it’s not.
The other part was due to there being very little conflict. Clara and Lucias aren’t clashing with each other here and, apart from a brief misunderstanding that is quickly resolved and one bout of nerves, there wasn’t much in way of little going on with the enemies side until the last few chapters.
It’s only recently that I found the answer I’ve been trying to unearth for some time. In the first book, the enemy’s aim was to take out the Dark Lord. Five months and the enemy would focus on Clara before trying to take out Lucias again. It’s led to some major rearranging of the plot, but I finally have forward movement!
Which is probably just as well as I’ve a certain spellster prince that’s very eager for me to be done so I can tell him story.
