The Chapter of Much Foreboding

"Yes! An Arnell chapter, I'm happy. Oh, and don't worry about the middle part. I'm sure you'll figure it out."
-Jenny

Last month I slacked and didn’t turn in an Oracle submission to the writers group. This month, I can’t – because twice in row is just bad. Yesterday I managed to sit down for a while in front of my computer and now I’ve got almost three pages, which isn’t too bad for a start. The story is growing more difficult, now that I’m getting close to the climax. I’ve always had a fuzzy idea of how it’d work, but now I have to work out the details – like who’s going to get killed in the fight. So far, I’ve killed two women and a male fetus, so in fairness’ sake, I’m going to have to knock off one of the guys, but who?

Devyn (Kelda’s step-father) is an obvious choice, so he can’t be it.
Dorian (weasely kid) would be out of the way if he died, so I’ve got to keep him. Convenient deaths are annoying.
Sedge (hero) is kind of obvious.
Arnell (mercenary) would make sense, but too many people like him, besides, if he ends up pulling a martyr, that’d be against everything I’m trying to do with his character.
Attun (mentally unwell youth) is so immediately in peril, that there’s little way he could survive.

I can’t figure out who I can kill off without people seeing it coming. Damn it. Of course, there is the Joss solution – decide who’s death will make the audience most angry, then kill that person. In which case, Arnell is doomed. *Sigh*

Of course, the even more immediate problem is what’s going to happen in this chapter. As I told Jenny, I know how it begins, and roughly how it ends, but I’m really unsure about the pages in between. I guess there’s nothing for it, but to sit down and write it out.

Writer’s block is just another way of saying “lazy.”