The first thing that I’ve noticed since starting Preptober is that there is way more lore and plot development for Dual Wielding: Featherstorm than I thought. Though I have a lot of pride in how the lore of the world overall has been improved, I think my brain didn’t quite register just how much work had been done on it, leaving me with remembering a lot of the original lore from when I was in high school first writing the world. To be fair, I did do all of the improvements during the height of Covid lockdowns and those years hardly exist in my memory files (ᵕ ⚆_⚆)ゞ

So, much of the beginning of Preptober has been tying together the four different versions of Featherstorm that I’ve written. I’ve started breaking down the structure to help guide for Writvember and the plotting phase, looking at the pivotal points of the book outlines I’ve already written. I had questions and worries about how the initial structure would look when doing my structure prep day in the first week but I’m pretty confident about it now ( • ̀ω•́ )੭ ✧´-

With Rini & Butler, there were clear lines between where I wanted the first book to end and where the second book would start because of the difference in what I wanted to explore in both. For Dual Wielding, I have different iterations of a complete series outline and so I’m thinking—possibly overthinking—how the new iteration of structure and plot will work over the course of the series so I can properly visualise the best points for each book, which will them inform the book’s structure individually.

I did my initial character prep and luckily, the latest outlines are from when I scaled back the characters. As a teen writer, I loved creating many characters but this really meant that each character was just an opportunity for a different type of person rather than letting a handful of characters organically become people who are complex and made up of several traits. This has been a relief for character preparation (◡ ‿ ◡ .)

Now … we come to the structure week. And … I realised—whilst trying to go to sleep last night—that the first novel can do so much more if I cut it in half and shove the second part into the second book. What this also means, though, is that this project can’t be called Featherstorm any longer, as that’s relevant to the end (and so now Book 2) (ᵕ ⚆_⚆)ゞ

Now, I’ve weighed up the cons and pros and know that it’s going to undo some of the preparation and work I’ve done already, but I do believe this is the right decision (•̀ᴗ•́ )و. The biggest issue that I have is that I don’t have a working title for the first book now that I’m shifting the structure. So, for now, this writing block project will be referred to as Dual Wielding: Blade’s Gauntlet. It definitely doesn’t roll off the tongue as good as “Featherstorm”, but that title is plot relevant to what’s been delegated to Book 2. We’ll workshop the title as we go (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

So, for Preptober so far, I am keen as a bean but am grateful for the planning phase before writing. I have been so eager to get into Writvember but this first portion of Preptober has reminded me why I make such a mess when I run with a story without giving myself the opportunity to really chew on my food before I swallow it. I’m excited over the structure changes and how it gives space to explore more in the story that I think would have otherwise neglected.

Happy writing everyone! Good luck on your own challenges! May your words flow without much difficulty!