Every time I think about Arlyn’s story, a little chill goes through me. Although, I do wonder if I’ve made a mistake.

In reviewing what I know about Arlyn and trying to discover a good starting point, I realized that I have two small issues.

The first is that Tangled Magic and Walk the Path are very dark stories, especially compared to Steigan’s story. This, I actually knew, but I haven’t driven the contrast as hard as it should be. However, I don’t think that my cover for Tangled Magic reflects that enough. The two fresh faced kids, even if one of them has spooky eyes, just don’t illustrate what’s to come. I wanted to highlight Rivic’s innocence, especially when compared to the darker cover of Walk the Path. It only works if both covers are together and if the viewer understands that they are related. So, the covers might have to change.

Live and learn, right?

The second problem is that I kind of wrote Balthier (from Dragons of Wellsdeep) as a much more mature Arlyn. Now granted, that’s a relatively small problem overall, but I will have to keep a distinction between Balthier and Arlyn firmly in my mind. They have some similarities, but Arlyn had a much better life. Balthier, his life I don’t know if I want to crawl down into that rat hole. I honestly think that would be darker than where I want my imagination to go. And don’t think that my brain hasn’t asked if I wanted to write some of Balthier’s life. Each time I nix it. It certainly hasn’t given me the warm, fuzzy feeling I get when I think about telling Arlyn’s story.

So, did I come up with a good place to start Arlyn’s book? I’m not sure yet. I think it’s an important spot, I just don’t know if it’s beginning material. But, for now, I have to finish my drummer story first. And I’m currently writing the scene that I’ve had in my head since I started writing the book. It feels pretty amazing to be at this point. It means I see the end coming into sight. The sooner I get it done, the sooner I can get onto the next book.

Woo hoo!