finally I can post

I think my timing is off, but I've had issue getting onto this blog the past two nights. Here's hoping that was just my timing alone.

As expected, some aspects of writing have slowed, though other aspects are starting to ignite. It started with a rather roundabout finding of the "Mon," which is the Japanese heraldry crest/coat-of-arms/etc. In trying to design a few new clothing concepts for the characters (loosely based around Thai and Japanese clothing), I ran across an article about the "Mon," which I never really paid attention to before. When you look at prints on some dresses or shirts, you'll sometimes see a circular picture with a pattern in it. In warfare you see this more often on the flags of the soldiers. That is the mon. It occurred to me that while I'm trying to do a semi-japanese flavored story, such a detail might be good to look into and possibly incorporate. It does mean doing a few design changes but nothing too dramatic thankfully.

The other issue, partially slowing down the progress of the current chapter, came about because of the mon, and also because I decided to take a slight "mental break" from my stories and catch up with my DVR to watch Game of Thrones. While nothing like what I'm writing (it's quite good and I recommend viewing), it gives a nice refresher on courtly manners, so to speak, which had me thinking about what I will need to work on for the rewrites as far as additions. An idea popped in my head for a memory of some kind that would add to the story a bit in a foreshadowing sort of way, but a conversation popped in that took president tonight.

The continuing secondary story is a banter between a princess and a member of her royal guard (for lack of a faster description). I've enjoyed the banter quite a lot and feel that it is something very strong that would draw in the audience. The problem though: it has no genuine resolution as far as the story goes. It's a lot of "play" between them where it's clear they like one another but can't do anything because of their position. The thing is, Cherry Blossoms is meant to be effectively a prequel to the Sphere of Time, and when it ends, the world will continue. So even though the story won't end with a resolution for the characters, there will be a resolution in later volumes. It's a matter I felt needed to be addressed in some way and while I initially thought to put it at the end (and wrote a five-page scene) I instead cropped some parts and put it into chapter 10, because I felt it did a better service to the story in the middle than as an end cap. Somehow, capping off the vampire story with the dialogue I wrote felt like I was trying to appease the audience with this side story. Moving it forward though changes the context of one of the character's future actions and the original intended ending will feel "natural" rather than a forced wrap up.

I may change my mind in the rewrite but I'm glad I wrote the scene one way or another.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com