I’d like you to meet Evie, or Evangeline as only her father calls her. For that matter, meet her father, too. His name is Lucifer. They’re angels. They don’t live in heaven–a misconception from millennia ago. While it’s true there are some angels, such as the Seraphim who spend an inordinate amount of time in heaven with God, most angels reside in their own separate realm called… well, I don’t yet know. I haven’t yet invented it.
But I spend a lot of time thinking about it. It’s one of my ideas for another book. I have a whole concept of an angel world pre-dating Earth and humanity (Angels are the elder race; humans are the younger siblings) and how the ultimate battle of Good versus Evil culminates. The outcome may be known (Lucifer, attempting to usurp God, is cast down to Hell with up to all third of all angels) but the impact on his daughter and her role in the drama has yet to be revealed.
Oh, and while I’m at it, let me introduce you to Piper, too. She’s a teen from Connecticut who in 2015 was forced into a terrible dilemma. Her beloved grandfather, who suffers from a rare and debilitating but not fatal disease, wants to end his life. Her mom, his daughter, refuses to allow it, but her grandfather begs Piper to help him. Torn between the love for her grandfather and her mother, and torn between what’s moral and what isn’t, Piper is at a loss about the right thing to do.
Why, pray tell, am I rambling on about Evie and Piper? New characters and new ideas and new concepts for new novels? Have you finished those last 5,000 word you were whining about from your last post, you ask?
Not yet.
But it’s so much easier to dream up another novel (or two or three or more) rather than finish Lyra’s story.
Because Evie and Piper’s stories have no problems (yet). There are no plot holes (’cause there is no plot); there are no concerns about character development (’cause there are no full characters), and there are no worries over the right word choice (’cause there are no words).
It’s a hazard I’ve heard from other writers, too, accompanied by the sage advice to stop thinking of your next novel as a way of procrastinating on this one.
They’re right.
Gotta get back on track.
No more procrastinating. I can’t leave Lyra in a lurch; I’ve got to get her out of the trouble I’ve put her in.
So, forget about Evie and Piper.
From here on in, it’s all about Lyra.
(Unless you want to meet Charisma?)
