I was able to articulate something tonight that’s eluded me for a very long time with the story I’m working on.
Articulated it in a way that bears no second guessing, because it hits me right in the truth spot, right where I can really, really feel it wide and deep.
I know what Petrick dreams of, what he wishes for, deep deep down, the thing that he’s afraid to say for the shame of someone else hearing it, for someone else taking it away from him. Not giving it to him, because that is the arc of this book that I’m writing, will break my heart, I think. That’s probably why it’s taken me so long to get to this point…but there it is.
I don’t want to spoil anything, but I set myself on this path with a story decision I made at the end of my last book. There’s no avoiding it. And it plays. It’s not arbitrary. It’s a facet of real life, a true lesson that Petrick must learn if he’s to grow up and be a hero…but I am going to give him his dream in the end, the very very end. A second chance. I’ll leave it open, probably, exactly what he’ll do with that second chance, but that’s always the ending I’ve wanted for him. Just not in this book. This book is the middle one, the one where everything goes wrong. The book where he learns the most, and is changed the most.
It’s time for bed. I ended up writing way more than I thought I would.
Night.
Coops is having a dream.