First, take the time you need with Witchlight! Landing all those perfect cookie payoffs takes time, and it’s only a wonderful thing that you’re able to take that time :)
I’m curious—you’ve mentioned before that you had always planned for Witchshadow to be two books, but why does Iseult, of all the POVs, get two? (Is that a spoilery question? Was Witchlight originally planned to focus on Safi again?)
(Also, started reading Inda, ahhh love it already—though oof, the names are tricky!—feeling very protect-sweet-Sponge-at-all-costs!)
Not spoilery! In fact, it’s a good example of the plan no longer working when I got to that point in the series. I realized that Iz, unlike the other characters, had a lot more growing to do. She had the triple whammy of mommy issues AND her magic AND her heritage. So I really wanted to tease all that out, and spend one book addressing magic. Then another book focused on Nomatsis and Mom. Plus I am bad at having toooooooo much plot. I like for my reveals to breathe! And feel earned!
But for business reasons, I found myself having to do ALL of that in one book. So here we are! (And i am frankly still dealing with the story repercussions of that in Witchlight! It’s gonna be another beefy book.)
Ahh thank you for answering this! I'm beginning to simmer a series idea but have only written standalone so far (on the 10th now, the 2nd to be published!), and I'm a huge outliner. But yes, I eventually deviate! The thing that usually never changes, or is only tweaked to be homed, is the character’s emotional arc, aka their growth. So I'm at a bit of a loss on how to stretch that over multiple books. I like the example you gave of Merik's arc, and that you had the question in the next book about whether they really learned the lesson or if they had to go deeper!
"I become them" Yes Susan well put
First, take the time you need with Witchlight! Landing all those perfect cookie payoffs takes time, and it’s only a wonderful thing that you’re able to take that time :)
I’m curious—you’ve mentioned before that you had always planned for Witchshadow to be two books, but why does Iseult, of all the POVs, get two? (Is that a spoilery question? Was Witchlight originally planned to focus on Safi again?)
(Also, started reading Inda, ahhh love it already—though oof, the names are tricky!—feeling very protect-sweet-Sponge-at-all-costs!)
Not spoilery! In fact, it’s a good example of the plan no longer working when I got to that point in the series. I realized that Iz, unlike the other characters, had a lot more growing to do. She had the triple whammy of mommy issues AND her magic AND her heritage. So I really wanted to tease all that out, and spend one book addressing magic. Then another book focused on Nomatsis and Mom. Plus I am bad at having toooooooo much plot. I like for my reveals to breathe! And feel earned!
But for business reasons, I found myself having to do ALL of that in one book. So here we are! (And i am frankly still dealing with the story repercussions of that in Witchlight! It’s gonna be another beefy book.)
Wonderfully insightful, interesting and helpful as always, Sooz. So appreciate you my friend.
Ahh thank you for answering this! I'm beginning to simmer a series idea but have only written standalone so far (on the 10th now, the 2nd to be published!), and I'm a huge outliner. But yes, I eventually deviate! The thing that usually never changes, or is only tweaked to be homed, is the character’s emotional arc, aka their growth. So I'm at a bit of a loss on how to stretch that over multiple books. I like the example you gave of Merik's arc, and that you had the question in the next book about whether they really learned the lesson or if they had to go deeper!