Last I spoke about project TDOA, I mentioned that it had grown from a duology into a trilogy and that it was stronger for it but that work still needed to be done. Very recently, I finished another draft for this particular project in its revised form and I’m pretty happy with it. It’s far from where I think it can be, where I think it needs to be, but I’m closer to it now, and envisioning it as part of a trilogy instead of a duology has helped shape this draft.
There’s still plenty of work that needs to be done, especially in terms of planning it to be a story of three books instead of two (and again instead of the initial one where I severely underestimated the length this story would be). That work is what I’ll be focusing on now as I let this draft sit. I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll most certainly mention it again, but I will always champion the idea of letting works sit in the background for a while. Leaving things out of the centre stage allows you to see its flaws and return to it with a refreshed mind so that, this next time, you can make it better with a fresh perspective. There are times when you need to jump straight back in again, but I think giving projects time to breathe is vital for strengthening them. Given that’s where I am now, it will give me time to work out those kinks that are there and restructure it into a successful trilogy.
You see, having planned for it initially to be one book, I had pretty much worked out the arcs for the characters and the beats of the story. Where it became two books, there wasn’t much that had to actually be done other than deciding where the first book ended and the second began because a lot of the beats could remain as they were, just being told over two books instead of one.
Where it has now become a trilogy, that definitely requires more work. At this stage, I have to look at the beats planned, the arcs characters are on and the path the story follows. Is it a case of extending these arcs or adding to them, and what would be best for the story? If you’re making additions, they have to make sense, they can’t feel like they’re being added just for the sake of being added. To do that, sometimes that means altering things at the beginning so that the additions have strong roots; if I just added a third book without any major work going into the story leading up to that third book, then it will feel like an afterthought, and that’s absolutely not what I want. The third book is necessary, I’m certain of that, but if there is a heavy amount of new questions that arises in that book and there aren’t enough seeds planted in the previous books to tie into this third one, it will feel like an outlier and that goes against the reason I want this third book to exist in the first place.
This third book needs to be written because the ending of book two leaves a lot of questions. There are a lot of answers given, especially because I had intended for it to end at book two, but there are possibilities that the ending posits that I don’t think should be left unexplored, and what that means is, potentially, altering the story. New avenues to be explored means their origin needs to come earlier, so that will mean planting the seeds within book one and book two to make this third book feasible; the questions already posited will be a sum of the book, but not all of it, and that’s where the work comes in.
To ensure there is a smooth transition from book to book, the most work will come with editing the arcs, the story beats and where these initial seeds need to be planted. Although I will be working solely on this first book now, I have to keep in mind the second and third book, I have to make a note of how edits might change the later story or how I can create foreshadowing and buildup throughout the first book so that it’s satisfying when we get to those moments of revelation later on.
It’s the character arcs that I believe will be the most challenging part of this. Whilst this is arguably a more story-driven book, characters are vital pieces in my stories and making sure they are integral to the story and its beats is a massive part of writing for me. Some writers and some audiences value the story elements more than the characters within them and whilst that is an exceptionally valid form of storytelling, characters are the ultimate reason why I write. That’s why making sure their motives and their endings are justified is always something I focus on, particularly when it comes to making changes; if I make a change and suddenly a character’s ambition doesn’t fit or they have to do something that doesn’t align with their traits, then that isn’t a change I can make. That’s why, when it comes to making this third book work, I have to ensure their arcs are still integral to this story, even as they evolve beyond what I had originally imagined.
This work will fill the space between this draft and the next. I can’t say for sure how long I will let it rest, but I don’t want it to be too long as, between now and the end of the year, I would love to get another draft or maybe even two done. At the same time, this work can’t be done overnight and so I want to make sure I have developed as much as possible before I jump back in. However long that takes is however long that takes and sometimes that’s just the way it is with writing. There are other projects I want to get my teeth into (or back into) this year and so what I’m hoping is that 2025 is incredibly productive for me and that I get to see my projects grow and evolve over the coming months; it’ll definitely be intriguing to look back on this year and see if my plans came to fruition because we all know things have a habit of going off-course. Even if that is the case, even if I’m not nearly as productive as I would like, it’s important to be proud of whatever gets done and to acknowledge whatever growth has occurred. So whatever this year may bring, I’m really looking forward to it.
Robyn x
R. A. Howard 