So, maybe the title isn't completely accurate, but I find it very amusing. Here, I'll be recording some of my progress (and undoubtedly asking for suggestions) in my story: the at-present-duo of Flames and Tears of Lecraesa. If you're reading Flames at present and don't want spoilers, I'm giving you a major spoiler warning now.
Finishing Flames
So, last summer I finished Flames and it was a very intense emotional experience. It was the first time I actually finished a book. Flames started as a random story with no direction and a handful of strange characters, but it quickly evolved into the story that is still consuming my life.
To say the least, finishing was traumatizing. It was exciting, but, at the same time, shocking. I felt strangely empty, but still joyful. The fact that my most complex character, Strick, supposedly dies at the end didn't help.
Now? I want to tear Flames to shreds. Rereading it, I realize how directionless I was at the beginning and I have succumbed to rewriting almost every scene - cutting everything but the bare minimum out and then adding important stuff. In some ways, I envy the innocent cluelessness of Creiha at the beginning of Flames, because now in Tears there is no character who can just cruise through the story and wonder what is happening. Tears is very, very complicated.
It is painful to go back and rewrite Flames because I know so much more about the characters now. Strick is anything but the seemingly callous, calm and mysterious character he was in Flames. I'm enjoying rewriting Creiha, but rewriting Strick is a terror because he changes so much, and it wasn't an easy, stereotypical change either.
After finishing Flames, my characters would not leave me alone, especially Lusien. She eventually forced me to write the first scene of Tears within a week of finishing Flames... not smart.
Beginning Tears
All I can say is that the 20 months that pass between Flames and Tears make it very difficult to understand the characters. They seem very different - especially Lusien.
As for my progress as of now? I am 150 pages in and slowly reaching the turning point where things will speed up. I feel like Tears is dragging, but I've been told many times that it is not. I get so frustrated with it sometimes.
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