I got a B-12 shot yesterday, which meant I had the energy to pick up the revision of The Brownie Liason. Discover to my dismay when I discovered that the edits I had made on chapter Four wasn’t saved.   To say that I was pissed off is to put it mildly, so I decided to read something.

I did wander back into the war room, lured by a tweet by Laura Anne Gilman.   And, I decided to skim through the draft of Vampyrvinter. Which made me decide  to dust off the Jenny Stories idea, and then out of the blue : BAM.  See, I have been toying with writing a mystery about an innkeeper for the last couple of weeks.   The new idea meant that idea clicked with the brownie liason idea.    It would mean a extensive re-plot, but I think it wouldn’t be a bad thing since if this works out the heroine would actually stand to lose something.

Last night, I had one of those moments were several previously unconnected pieces suddenly fit.   And it all came from three lines.  I knew from the beginning of the first draft  that she would get an offer to stay in Korun.

While writing the first draft, I also realised that  one of my older ideas about an apprentice Einavalir ( justicar) would fit seamlessly in the world of Korun.

But what I hadn’t known was how these two ideas was connected.  In a way, Trollkungens dotter is a prequel describing the events that led to the founding of the Justicars.    I am not sure I’ll write about the founding itself, though.

Writing a synopsis is a part of my revision synopsis, since it allows me to figure out plot holes.   But, I have  struggled  with the synopsis for Trollkungens dotter.  And then yesterday, I had one of those lightbulb moments. While the partial draft are riddled with problems, it start in the right place. Which means, my main character should arrive after  the kidnapping has happened. In the current version, she arrives before it happens.  It was a relief to have this insight, since normally I am very accurate when it comes to the starting point of the story.  In fact, I have only been wrong once and that was with Sherezade. Which, in the original outline started at the kidnapping, but I realised that was the wrong spot before starting the draft.  Which, hm, was another story were I winged it a lot.

I do think that in the end, it will be worth it, since it should mean I’ll have the end outlined. Woot! ( Which would be even better if I could find the notebook were they fight the dragons….)

Unfortunately, the lightbulb moment means I’ll probably have to toss out the 4 000 words I have on the draft so far. But, to paraphrase  Faith Hunter ( I think): It is the hard books that make us grow as writers.

So. Yesterday I took a look at the synopsis.   And I was a bit appalled to discover that there were plot holes big enough to poke my head through.   I knew that the end was missing when I started writing, but I had planned to reach the point were the first draft stops before I outlined it.

This might sound odd, but I am glad this happened, since I suspect I have to cut the words I have written. The easy explaination is that the heroine is meek. Which she isn’t. She has been a merc, and she is used to tough investigations.

Also, there is no tension. Which it should be, since she is undercover, surrounded with people who doesn’t like her.  I think one problem is that I started the story in the wrong place, but I am not sure what the right place is.

When I started writing, I wrote in Swedish. I still have the unfinished draft, somewere on my laptop.   But I was surrounded by people who wrote in english.  So, I switched to English.   Mainly because my ideas were in English.  And, during the next 8-9 years I wrote.  Some of it was utter dravel, but most of it wasn’t.   But I didn’t submit anything, since I mostly wrote novellas, and there wasn’t that many publishers that accepted novellas, back then. ( Now it is different, of course.)

As I wrote, and honed my craft,  ideas in Swedish kept popping up.  I played with them but in the end I returned to  English. But… at the same time, something happened in Swedish publishing. They started publishing fantasy, first in YA and middle grade.  And… said fantasy was successful, so they published more of it.   And, at this point, I started wonder if maybe, I was writing in the wrong language.

Except… I had no ideas that felt viable. Yet. So, I let them simmer for awhile. And, last year Trollkungens dotter exploded into my brain.   And, I had so much fun writing the partial draft.

And, after finishing the Brownie Liason, as much as I liked the story, I think I’ll never feel fully comfortable writing in English again.  The main difference is that when I write in Swedish I don’t have to worry about the language, I can focus on getting the story as good as possible.

Oh, and those older ideas?  I have plans for them.   One is, in fact, set in the same world  as Trollkungens dotter.  A fact I didn’t realise until I started writing Trollkungens dotter.

The other… is a small town  contemporary fantasy, that I am itching to work on.