BLRobinson

     I won't pretend that I know a great deal about writing...I mean, I work at my novels and short stories as best I can, but I am certain that if they were read by any of the "industry" editors, they would have no problems at all in picking them apart and red-lining HUGE portions of my work. In my defense, however, I am aware that much of what I do is "outside" the standard "outline" that writers are generally supposed to adhere to. I use fragments, slang, incomplete sentences, amongst other grammar violations, and you know why? Because real people do the same thing, day in, day out. People really don't pay attention to whether the correct word to use is lay, or lie, and the person that they are speaking with doesn't either, but both of them know perfectly well exactly what is meant.
    Writing anything is problematic to most people. Perhaps if I had all the proper training, I wouldn't run into the problems that I do in my work...perhaps. I don't really believe that for a moment though. My mind is too "ADHD" to be reined in by some instructor in a Creative Writing class telling me "This is how it's done"... if it was that easy he wouldn't be teaching at a community college, he would be off penning his next best seller while munching on chocolate covered strawberries, or sipping wine or whatever it is that super-successful authors do. I wouldn't know, personally. My best selling book is nothing more than a compilation of repeated tables, bound together, page after page of spaces for a person to list firearms that he/she has purchased and/or disposed of. Not my novels, each of which took well over a year to write, with countless rewrites and changes till I finally said to Hell with it, this is what you're getting.
     I recently read over the next novel in the Castle Alleyne series, at least what I have done of it in rough draft. It's been... years, since I touched the thing. Not that I have writer's block, for that's something that I've never really experienced.  I can be away from a story for (in this case, about two years) a long time, sit down and skim over what I've written and then just go on from where I left off...I know, people DO hate me for it, not something that I planned or arranged you know! Anyways... I kinda dislike reading on a computer screen, which is one of the reasons that I'll probably never own a Kindle or Nook or any of those readers, so I took what I have done and had it bound into a book, so I could edit it as I read it. I suppose if I ever got published and established a huge fan base, this book would probably be worth like... $5.00 or more! Hey, I truly believe that you need to do whatever works for you if you want to write. If the only way you can get the words out of your head and onto paper is listen to Enya and eat Hershey's chocolate kisses (That would be my first novel, The Dragonbone Sword, totally fueled by sugar and Celtic music!) then that's what works for you. (My second novel was a product of Enya and Loreena McKennit's music, and Smarties candy...)
     But I digress... the point of this blog entry is to get some plot lines out of my head and onto... well, whatever you want to call this. Not paper, but the point is the same. My novel is following the general outline that I had originally laid out for it, but now new ideas are forming as we go along. I had intended on having my main two characters being stuck on another world for three months, which would be three years back on their own world, which would cause some major problems in my male characters household, and give my antagonist time and freedom to "perfect his nefarious plot". But in laying out the three months worth of action for my two protaganists, I realized that I was in effect laying out the groundwork for them staying there in a confrontational setting, which would draw away from the main storyline originally established for the novel. So the problem here is steering the story, I suppose. I explored several options, all of which seem to create the need for yet another book between this one and my earliest novel, The Battle Between, which I not long ago re-acquired all control of. SO here are several distinct storylines that I have to choose from....

     One, Robin and Briana stay in Alonwin's world for the three months, in which three years will pass back home. Various problems could be used to force them to stay, from an evil person of some kind kidnapping Alonwin in order to force Robin and Briana to aid them in some sort of task, since their powers are so much stronger in this world. Then, after somehow rescuing Alonwin, with the aid of a ragtag bunch of homeless waifs who live in the underground tunnels, driven there by the present King/Baron/Noble for some unknown as of yet reason. Finally able to return home, Robin and Briana would be greeted by a Kingdom that had descended into chaos, Robin's old nemesis Mordeus having overrun a large portion of the kingdom by using his newly created "Lacerta", winged lizards that can breath fire AND turn you to stone, a wizards crossbreed that he came up with so he could tap into the powers stored in the Dragonbone Sword.

     Two, Robin and Briana return after only a few days spent in Alonwin's world. Upon his return, he finds that Bron is once again pregnant, this time with a daughter. The time spent away has taken it's toll though, and Bron flees home to her parent's manor, and takes to drink and slothfulness, eventually Robin petitions his buddy the King to dissolve his marriage, and takes his children back to his un-named castle. During this time, Robin encounters a caravan being set upon and uses his powers to stop the attack, earning him the undying thanks of the rich merchant  and the immediate attention of his beautiful daughter. The plot twists as he eventually determines that this is the father and sister of the boy who died at his hands when he initially discovered his powers...and that the boy's mother is the one behind the attack on the caravan....dealing with this situation preoccupies Robin, allowing Mordeus to unleash his evil mini-dragons on the King's forces... Briana having to deal with her house being surrounded by Lord Doofus's men, her mother holed up inside behind the protective wards, having no idea where her daughter and grandkids have been these three months. They end up fleeing to Robin's castle, mom and the kids taking up residency while Briana heads out to find Robin and take on Mordeus and his flights of lacerta's...

Three... ah, who knows, I'm sure that at some point more ideas will pop into my head and try and worm their way into the story!

     As it stands, I've pretty much decided to stop trying to make THESE novels fit the story outline already established in The Battle Between. Since I now have my rights back to it, I can instead make the minor changes that I need to in that novel, fleshing it out as it always needed, get rid of the somewhat archaic language used, and bring back our old antagonist the Demon...