Maybe I’ll Just Add a Few More Scenes…
Way back in the fall of 2016, I was thinking about the golden apples of immortality – because, hey, who doesn’t think about these things?
[image error]Idun and the Apples (1890) by J. Doyle Penrose
The Norse myth where Loki steals Idunn’s apples is a pretty good yarn. It’s got all the classic elements: a daring chase, lives on the line, treachery and tricks, a goat tied to someone’s privates. (No, I’m not kidding.)
In the original myth, Loki steals the apples as his part of a bargain with the giant Thiassi. That’s not a bad hook, but I thought I could do better. So I came up with a tragedy from Loki’s past, wrote it down, named it The Briar and the Rose, and decided to release it after The Wolf’s Lover.
The Briar and the Rose was a neat little novella of about 30,000 words. (Click here for a sneak peek.) It’s a story within a story, opening with Loki and Caroline on their first date since the birth of their daughter and then moving to the distant past as Loki tells Caroline the story of Idunn’s apples.
(Yes, Loki and Caroline had a baby. It’s in The Wolf’s Lover.)
I finished the story in the spring of 2017, then sat on it while I made my painful way through line editing Wolf’s Lover. The opening of Briar and Rose takes place after Wolf’s Lover, so I didn’t want to release it first and make my timeline even more freaking complicated.
[image error]Gods and Lovers Timeline
Once I’d released The Wolf’s Lover, I turned my attention back to Loki and Caroline.
My beta readers, who are all amazingly lovely people, liked The Briar and the Rose. But they all thought it felt a little short. They wanted more.
“Oh, I can brush it up a little,” I told myself. “I guess I’ll just add a few more scenes.”
But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I’d only told half a story. Loki’s story to Caroline ended with Idunn trapped in Thiassi’s castle. We didn’t meet Skadi. We didn’t figure out whose office Loki and Caroline had trashed earlier in the night.
And there was no goat scene.
What’s more, I actually knew the rest of the story. I’d worked out the major details; I just hadn’t set them down on virtual paper.
I’d planned to release The Briar and the Rose in May. And I really, really wanted to release it in May. But, ultimately, I decided I couldn’t just tell half a story.
So I got back to writing.
[image error]
Between the end of March and now, I added almost 60,000 words to the next Loki and Caroline story. I know that’s not a lot compared to, say, Stephen King, but I did it while working two jobs that actually pay (teaching, FYI) and keeping my kids clean and fed.
Plus, I have a raging social life.
[image error](I’m kidding. I’m a total shut-in.)
And, yes, I added the goat scene.
Did it work?
Well, I think so. But you can be the judge… The Briar and the Rose should be out this fall.
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