Hero Stuff: Teasers, Shorts, and Random Stuff

Pt. 1 In Conclusion, Conclusions Suck (Damsel[ed] stuff? Writing stuff? Agh?)

This contains spoilers for book one and two of my Damsel[ed] series, but that's it, really. I can't exactly spoil book three because you can't spoil an ending that doesn't exist, though I might walk you through a few possible endings if that's alright.

I mean, I've written about a billion alternate endings for book three. Fallout has died, Poison has died, Angel has died, Poison and Angel have died, Owl's been revived, Owl's been striked from being revived by all possible means. 

Basically? I'm willing to kill off any character. Willing to do anything for a good ending. Or, heck, an ending. I suppose there are few things more dangerous to a fictional character's wellbeing than a burnt out writer. 

So, anyway. I'm going to try to work myself out of this hole.  If you're someone who wants to write stuff on Wattpad, well, pretend you're a med student and I'm a "doctor" performing a live dissection in her basement.  In other words, welcome to the pulsing guts of a Wattpad novel and the mind of someone who isn't deranged. The fans usually know best, anyway. If I've learned anything from Wattpad, it's that. 

That and a duology is fine. One book for build up, one for pay off. Sure, a trilogy sounds better, what with the three-act structure and everything, but it's not. I like to build up every plot twist, every complication. But you know what I especially suck at? 

Pay-offs.

So here are all the things I need to pay-off by the end of book three:

1. That villain character who shows up in the beginning of book three (I mean, I KNOW where I'm going with it, I just haven't touched on it in twenty friggin' chapters, and I don't know if the pay off is going to be enough if I only mention it in like one or two scenes and then the thing is resolved).

2.  Galaxy's siren power. I used it to justify all the fanboys and fangirls, but it was a point of drama rather than true explanation, too. I figured I could use it to complicate her and Gats' relationship, but then the unplanned plot of book two hit like a brick in the teeth and those two have way  too many other complications to throw in a, "I'm dangerous to you because you'd die for me without even wanting to" point in there.  But with everything that's happened, Gal hasn't even had time to think about it. 

3. Galaxy and Poison's relationship. If I'd ended the series on book two, this would've been fine? I guess? Sad, but...an okay melancholy end? Unless I go for a Dark and Edgy ending, with Galaxy taking Poison's side (more on this later), for pay-off I'd need Gal and Pois to come to a 'shit this isn't healthy' moment (see point six). Which, okay, can be done.  And anyway, I need to do a lot of rewriting in this subplot. I need to do a lot of rewriting everywhere, but especially here. I mean, Galaxy doesn't end up living with him because...

4. The deal. Galaxy's supposed to go with Poison because Snare saved her life, and she eventually resigns herself to that fate. The only reason she hasn't joined Snare yet is that of Poison's capture. But now he's not captured. But I've written like 50,000 words in my notebook of stuff oblivious to this and IneedtoreworkthisentirebookI'vebeenwritingforalmostayearnow. Spit. 

5. Cleo. I guess her job is to sort of humanize Owl, but she's also a big threat. Bigger than Fallout. But she only begins to be built up in book two, whereas Fallout's been built up since book one.  I could maybe pull a Star Wars and have Fallout save Angel from Cleo or something, but  I don't think that'll work.  It wouldn't have worked in Star Wars if Luke Skywalker's battle was for agency in a world that tried to drag him around like a puppet by its strings. It would be kind of sad, actually. Uhhh...

6. Jay and Angel's relationship. Okay, so. Fun fact: the idea for Jay came, fittingly, from a Star Trek episode (that and this one pitch-altered Falling in Reverse song, but, uh, I don't talk about that too much) "Men like me take what they want," Khan, this dictator dude who'd been asleep for two centuries, said while nearly crushing this one woman's hand. I think while digesting that scene the first time, my brain actually exploded. That's the guiding philosophy I gave to Jay and Poison. They don't see Angel and Galaxy as people with agency, but as things you conquer. Like, Angel's weak, Jay's strong. Just by that dichotomy, Jay thinks she can sort of make him her boyfriend. It's not about what he wants. He doesn't actually matter, as a person. He'll love you, eventually.  Same goes for Gal. Through book one and two Jay is coming to terms with the faults in this worldview and is trying to respect him as an actual person. Angel is also really aware that she's thought about him this way. And he's not happy about it.

My God, I never thought I'd write characters with relationships more complicated than my own. 

But yeah? I want it to work? But worldviews don't just change overnight and habits don't just disappear, I guess? I want it to be realistic, but I want them to have a happy and healthy relationship. So that needs to happen. When I figure out how to do that.

7. Gatsby's self-loathing. 

8. Gatsby's parent thing.

9. Gatsby. In general.  Poor guy.

10. Shiro does a thing. He needs to do more than that to pull his weight, or else I need to cut him. Which, agh, work. But then someone else would have to try to kill Angel in his sleep while being endeared to the crew, and I can't think of any other character to do that, except, Nat? Maybe? Gah, work.

11. Angel still hasn't touched Syndicate, despite being its ruler. That really needs to be more of a big deal.

12.  Fallout. I mean, ideally, he'd be the perfect Boss to fight. Introduced early in the first book, the MC's father. But he's just not that intimidating, what with Cleo. I can also see Angel combining forces with Fallout to fight Cleo, but I can't actually imagine Fallout treating Angel like an ally rather than a weapon. And Angel being used to win a fight isn't a very climactic climax.

13. the climax...

It's almost midnight, tomorrow's my last day of school, and I'll write out all the possible endings and stuff then. Or heck, why not tonight? I'll sleep when I'm dead, maybe.