Scorpion's Reach

So, this post is about the possibility of me writing a forth book to my Escaflowne trilogy. I honestly didn't think that so many people would be interested in me writing a fourth book. In my author's notes for the last chapter of 'Mark of a Goddess' I asked everyone to say so if they wanted to have a fourth book. I was absolutely stunned by how many people said that they would be interested in a fourth installment. I didn't think there would be that much interest.

Right now, I'm really not sure if it's something that I want to do.

One of the major flaws of my Escaflowne trilogy is that it's written in limited omniscent. So, I can only write from Hitomi's point of view. Up until now - that has sort of irritated me - but I wanted to learn to write with boundries, so I dealt with it. But, now I have a way of fixing that without betraying the style I started with. Hitomi could have visions of things as a third party - so she could see things happening that she hasn't been able to see before. And that could be really helpful.

So, stuff that will have to happen if I do a fourth book? Sorry, if this is spoiling anything for anybody, but I need a place to write some ideas and see if I can get anything interesting out of it - at least enough to fill 24 chapters. I don't know if I have enough material to fill 24 chapters.

Folken will have to decide if he's going to choose Naria or Eriya as his contract bound woman. I know he doesn't actually make a decision in the series, but within the bounds of my story - he has to choose only one of them. I was leaning towards him choosing Eriya. She seemed to have a better attitude and be a trifle less evil than Naria. And I'm going to need Naria to be all the evil she can be plus a little bit more.

Next - in case some of you haven't figured it out. Dilandau is the person who inherited The Devil's tarot abilities. And also in case you didn't know - scorpions symbolize revenge. So, I think I'd call the book 'Scorpion's Reach'. Actually, this is the part of the book that would make me extra happy, because I really like working with Dilandau. And since he's all vengeful - he'd have to go after Hitomi and Chid directly. So, like the series, he would be aiming for revenge - except mostly against Hitomi (that makes Hitomi a bigger part of the action). So, for that - I think this would be fun.

Dilandau would also have to pair up with Naria, which would make for an interesting dynamic. For one thing, he's like eight years younger than Naria and she'd want him for her lover. So that continues our 'age differences' theme from the other books. But you see, Dilly would resist something like that, because in his heart - he only cares about Celena.

Then there's Van and Hitomi. So, in the first book we had the first flowers of romance - first kiss. In the second book we had the wedding and the separation. In the third book - active sexuality (though not described). So, what's left? That's right. In a normal relationship that advances naturally - Hitomi would be pregnant now. I still haven't decided on that path yet. I was going to leave 'Mark of a Goddess' really open so that the reader could decide if Hitomi was able to have children or not. But if I do another book - I'll definitely have to answer the question. Hmm ... Personally, I had kind of been leaning towards her not being able to have children, but I was never planning on answering that question. It was always the plan to leave it open. But if I did a fourth book - I would pretty much have to answer the question with a 'yes'. So, basically, Hitomi would be pregnant for the entirety of the next book. The time frame for 'Mark of a Goddess' has been around three weeks. So, yep - Hitomi would probably wouldn't even get to delivery time before the end of the fourth book. Not only that, but writing a book that has anything to do with pregnancy sounds like non-fun to me. I couldn't get enthusiastic about a project like that. Everyone always tells me to write what I know about, but MAN ALIVE - that wouldn't make me happy. I would just relive some of the least fun moments of my own life.

So, if I didn't have Hitomi being pregnant - what else could I do with the plot? I've already heard a lot of noise that if I cut Hitomi off from motherhood - I'll be pissing off a whole section of my readers. I know a lot of people think that I shouldn't have that sort of thing on my mind while I write, but I can't help it.

What I really mean is - how could I deepen Hitomi and Van's love at this point without having them have children? I've already threatened their relationship with a separation and tempted Hitomi with other men. Not a lot coming to mind here - but this is one of the problems that I will brainstorm after this.

The other thing that could happen that would bring them together is that Dilandau could murder Hitomi's whole family. I originally had that happen in the first book after Hitomi is dragged out of the apartment by Dilandau's thugs. But at this point in the story - it would be so brutal that Hitomi would be a freaking mess. Not only that - but I think that might alienate my readers. Doing something that drastic is pretty nasty when they've been reading for over 300,000 words. But it would cause Van and Hitomi to get closer together in a way that hasn't happened yet. Hmmm - that sounds a little hardcore. Maybe too nasty.

The next thing that is probably a necessity is that the location of the story might have to change. I'll be giving up the setting of Dryden's mansion by the end of 'Mark of a Goddess'. The most natural thing would be to move the story to Madrid, but frankly - there is no friggin' way I'm falling into that trap.

Chid is going to have to be a main character from now on. Folken will have to wait in the wings for awhile - though I can see him having a part to play eventually. I can't see Allen being useful at all anymore. I could start out the book with Hitomi being interviewed by The Historian. So that's a new character I could bring in. I also have no clue what sort of role Dryden and Selphie would have in the next book. Or Gaddes and Eries for that matter. I'm done with Aunt Flo and Merle and I was just contemplating killing Hitomi's whole family. Hmm... that's looking like a better idea by the minute. But that means that I haven't got a whole lot of characters to work with. Let's see I've got:

Hitomi
Van
Dilandau
Chid
Naria
Folken
Eriya
The Historian
Dallet
Miguel

That's not good folks - that's half the cast of 'Mark of a Goddess'. When I made up my character sketches for 'Ghost Mist' I think I ended up with 25 characters. Ten is pathetic beyond all reason. I don't know if I can even pull of a story like this with only ten characters. Let's see - how many did I have for 'Dragon's Moon' - that might help me think.

Hitomi
Van
Millerna
Mrs. Kanzaki
Eries
Allen
Merle
Aunt Flo
Dilandau
Miguel
Chid
Celena
Gaddes

I had 13, but it only gets worse as we go along - I just add more and more and more. I think I've used all the remaining characters from Escaflowne. I'll probably need some more characters and they'll probably all have to be original since I've already picked Escaflowne's bones clean. Dang it! I wish I hadn't already used Amano - he could have saved my can right about now. Dang!

Blah!