New novel 1/2 complete

*Trumpets and Fanfare*
I am happy to announce that the writing on the Isle of Wysteria sequel, called The Reluctant Queen, has officially passed the halfway point. Yay!

Fans of the first book will be happy to find all the things that made it great in spades, plus a lot of new stuff and new characters. All of the buildup in book one begins to pay off in some very big and important ways.

I find I am getting much faster at writing than I used to be. The original Isle of Wysteria took just over a year to write, while this has reached the halfway point after just three months. Its surprising even to me, particularly because I have soooooooooo much less free time then I did back when I wrote the first one. By all accounts it doesn't make any sense, but there you go.
The one thing I can say has certainly made a difference is my little blue-tooth keyboard. It links wirelessly to my iphone, allowing me to word process and write no matter where I am. A good portion of The Reluctant Queen has been written on park benches while my kids play on the slides. Even this blog entry is being written from a waiting room while my foster son sees the dentist. I've been squeezing in every spare minute I can to write, and I guess it is paying off.

It is really fun to come back to these characters and visit them yet again. Athel, in particular, is really fun to write. She has a very strong id, which gives her a high degree of emotive honesty. When she is hungry she eats, when she is happy she laughs, when she is sad she cries, when she is angry she yells. That is not to say she is uncomplicated. Far from it. In fact, I'd say she's by far the most complicated character I've ever written. She has her years of royal training and courtly sensibilities that clash and oppose her naturally carefree and slightly slovenly nature. She desperately desires her freedom, yet she has a deep sense of duty to her forest and her people. She respects and loves her mother, but she also blames her for the conflicted life she lives.

Alder is harder for me to write. He has so many filters to his behavior. He rarely says what he really thinks, and has lived under the pressure of duty for so long that it never even occurs to him to do what he wants to do most of the time. It's too easy for him to vanish into the background if I'm not careful to include him.
And yet, for all of his filters, he is a refreshingly honest character in his motivations. He is hard to write but I love to read him when it is done, if that makes sense. His compassion and concern for others is so simple, his love for Athel is so pure and honest. He has no hidden agenda, no guile, he just loves her with all his heart and wants her to be happy, and wants her to be the best she can be. And yet, despite the simplicity of his intentions, he is not a simpleton. In fact, he's probably one of the most intelligent characters in the series. Observant and thoughtful, if a little naive in the ways of the world at times.

I think that is why they compliment each other so well. Athel is honest in how she emotes, while Alder is honest in his intentions. They have a lot they can learn from one another to grow as individuals and as a couple. Too many people focus on compatibility, I think what is far more important is complimentability.