Plot arguments do not lead to domestic tranquility

I had a book epiphany today. The kind where you just stop everything you are doing and think, “My, God. That’s brilliant! I am such a genius!”

My incredible idea was that I should swap the back story part of book 2 (The Second Seal) with the one in book 3 (already written and currently gathering virtual dust on my hard drive).

Speaking of back story, here’s a little on this whole predicament:

All of the books in this series have four major storylines. Three of those are set in the present and the fourth is set in the past. The fourth storyline fills in the gaps in the other three and gives the reader a historical perspective on the rest of the plot. Except in The Second Seal. It didn’t really do that and I have spent no small amount of time trying to figure out a way to make that happen. However, all of my ideas fell a little short.

Until today.

I made a small change in a secondary character that tied him directly to the fourth storyline in Book 3 (I allude to this a bit in #2, but not a lot. You’d really have to be paying attention to catch it.).

The difficulty is in convincing my husband/writing partner/editor to do it. Because he is in love with the section from Book 2. I think this is because it is the last part of any of these books that he actually sat down and wrote. He loves it and is unwilling to change certain parts of it (more on this in an upcoming post). He really doesn’t want to make the change. I just think waiting until the next book is asking a lot of the reader, especially when it might help to know more about what is going on in Book 2.

I apologize for being so vague, but I don’t want to let any spoilers slip out.

Your thoughts?

That's it! I'm moving!

Ah, home sweet Blogger. My new blog home. Sure, it looks a little different. Feels a little different, too. I think I’ll get used to that, but until I get this all figured out, please be patient with any mistakes I make. It is certainly better than mySpace which effectively locked me out of my own blog and then never bothered to respond to any of my pleas for help. Screw you, Tom! Blogger loves me more. Nyah!

On to more important topics for my ranting …

The editing of The Second Seal continues to go well. The latest installment had my husband charging me in a threatening manner with a large metal flashlight. This was not the result of our latest argument over what stays and what goes in the book. No, this was actual research. We were trying to figure out exactly where one character might try to club another, if he was only intending to hurt and not kill the other person. This was after he informed me that I had written (nearly word for word) a very similar scene, just pages earlier. Hey, at least I’m consistent.

For the record, we went with shoulder.

That explains why mine is killing me today.

:D