I'm sitting down to write the final book in the Defiance trilogy now, and I have mixed emotions. Part of me is eager to finish this journey with my characters. To see scenes I've had in my head for the past two years finally come to life on the page. To do my best to give Rachel and Logan a happily ever after. But part of me feels like hanging on to them, to their story, a little bit longer. It seems like just yesterday that I sat down and let the image of a fortress, the idea of an underground dragon, and a mouthy redhead take over my brain. I'm also wondering why in the world I left myself such a tangle of plot lines and nearly impossible things to accomplish in this book. I look at the end of DECEPTION, which seemed like such a good idea at the time (and really was the only logical course of action) and kind of wish I'd just burned everything down again. Because the beginning of Book 3? Is a tricksy, tricksy hobbitses. Logan has to accomplish three mostly impossible things in the first few scenes. Rachel ... I can't even say a word about that without giving away the end of Deception. And do I have a plan? Oh yes, I have a plan. It looks a lot like this:
Brain Food:
:
Back-up plans if my current villains refuse to cooperate:
Ready response to those foolish enough to interrupt my office hours:
How others will know I'm working:
How I'll look when I leave my office but the plot won't leave my head:
What I feel when I read the end of DECEPTION & realize I have to FIX THAT:
What happens when I can't fix it on the first twelve tries:
What happens when I finally DO fix it:
And once I hit my stride, it pretty much looks like this:
So, there you have it. Book 3, with all its complicated plot twists that must be untangled and then resolved, is a blank page open on my computer. The playlist is open. The "Things That Must Be Figured Out Within Five Scenes" are listed on a notepad to my left. My peach tea is to my right.
Time to begin the end.
I leave you with the first song on Book 3's playlist:
