As this implies, I’m gathering everything, trying to close plot holes and make sure necessary scenes are in place. You might have seen the statement on-line about not having one’s ducks in a row, but that they’re in the same pond? That’s me. I’m gathering those suckers one by one. This involves story boards, input from critique partners and lots of review. I go over and over my books before I release them.
This what makes later finding typos so frustrating. Believe me, if any reader ever finds one, I want to hear about it! I’m grateful when I do!
So, I’m working on the second book in the Amish Vows Series. This series involves the Miller family, focusing on the Miller men finding love in their own ways. I’m enjoying that each of these books centers on developing relationships in a spiritual way of life. Anyone who has attempted to live a good, kind life can relate to how challenging this can be.
As I come to finishing every book I write, I worry that I haven’t built in each aspect. Is something forgotten? Have I not conveyed the challenges these characters face and is the relationship resolution believable and satisfying? I hope that readers close my books at the end, convinced that the hero and heroine will go on to live a happy, satisfying life and I always want to show characters addressing and resolving relationship conflict. To me, this is the most powerful aspect of loving another person.
Resolution involves both truly hearing the significant other’s perspective—incredibly difficult—and then conveying one’s own perspective. This is how we can sustain relationships through a lifetime and I think it’s one of the hardest things we do on this earth.
So, you can see I’ve set myself a very high bar. I’m not writing fantasy in the sense that this kind of relationship connection isn’t achievable. I want my characters to be real and identifiable. Like friends you know. I want them to have feelings and challenges like we all do.
And now I’m writing this in a totally different world from my own, so it’s interesting to say the least.