The first thing I would do is ask The Big Question:
Did my Heroine / Hero Achieve their Goal?
YES.
Because this journey is starting IN MEDIA RES…it will begin in a much different place than I usually start a first book in a series, or even a consecutive book in a series.
Because this is the second book and I ended the first book on a kind of cliff hanger.
But not really.
I think I split hairs.
Arcane Rising introduces Janet Harper, and brings back the crew of Bell, Book, and Candle from the Urban Fantasy series, The Eldritch Files. That was a 9 book series I completed in 2019 and have now come back to, fives years after the events of book 9. Which means, at the end of Arcane Rising, my number one goal was to—
Make sure Janet Harper achieved her goal, what she wanted at the beginning of the book.
It might not have been exactly what she thought she was going to do—which was kill The Reaper to free her childhood friend’s soul. But in a waayyy….she did. She killed the spell that held him prisoner. And this led to finally understanding The Reaper never took her friend, because The Reaper does not kill.
ACCOMPLISHED!
I can write that down in my Outlining Notebook. Check it off. And be happy.
Because there is a butt-ton of things to do next:
*Sits back and looks grim*
This is where I grab my physical copy of the book and make note of every character and where I left them. I usually do this at my writing desk, or in bed. For this particular exercise, I sat at my writing desk and made notes of the major characters and where they are at the end, because I don’t always remember.
And like I learned in this little exercise…I misplaced one of them. Where the hell did I put him?
Oops.
So I spent a good half hour or so looking for that character and luckily, I did find him. Now, when I say I looked and found him, I mean in my preliminary outlines. All those scribbles that started out on post-it notes, napkins, pieces of tape, in other notebooks, etc. This is why it’s a good idea to keep all this stuff in ONE PLACE.
ONE NOTEBOOK.
And make sure you decorate, enhance, or pick out color or cover it with something you love, so this notebook does the one thing it’s supposed to do when you’re looking for it—it makes you smile.
