Hercules and Xena

(I wrote this without remembering that I’d talked about this story over the years.  Keeping the hero a secret was already a lost cause.  I could rewrite the post, but I’m finding it kind of funny that I totally forgot my own motormouth.  Same goes for Wednesday’s post and Friday’s ‘big reveal’.  Yeah . . . I’m an idiot.)

I’m gearing up to do my summer release, which is titled Quest of the Broken-Hearted.  I’m going to reveal the plot on Friday, but I will say that it connects to Legends of Windemere.  This brings in a lot of challenges that I haven’t had to contend with before.  One wrong step can cause damage to this book, the original series, and future Windemere tales.

My biggest worry when writing this story was spoilers.  I have to refer back to the original a few times to maintain the connections.  Considering the plot, this isn’t too hard, so it’s more a question of holding stuff back.  Things have to get mentioned and you can only have characters be so vague before it seems unnatural.  The finale of Legends of Windemere had an impact on the entire world, so people are going to talk about those who lived and died.  I did my best to avoid going into the details, but you still have to mention something.

Another concern was demonstrating the passage of time since it’s two 2 years after the battle with the Baron.  I have to show that repairs have been made, but there are still scars on the world and people.  The main character has to show this too.  They have to show an evolution with pieces of their former self, which I found to be a real challenge.  After writing the Legends characters for so long, it’s hard to pull them out of their original roles and mentalities.  Even those who make cameos felt a little rough because it was like trying to write a new persona over an old friend.  There’s not really an easy way to test this out either because I’m rather biased here.

Honestly, I never thought it would be so hard to go back while pushing forward.  This is probably the biggest balancing act I’ve ever had to do.  I thought introducing Mab in The Mercenary Prince and then going to her older self in War of Nytefall was a challenge, but it really wasn’t.  That was returning to the past and showing how she got to where she was over the course of centuries.  Quest of the Broken-Hearted goes in the opposite direction with me having to show where a person has ended up after everything that’s happened.  You have to come up with events and results without actually showing them, but still fit them into a conversation.  This might be why I’ve been so nervous about the story.  Thankfully, it’s got a lot of action too.

So, what do you think about spin-offs?