Changing Gears Mid-Story

Made a big decision today that has been weighing on me all week. I had known when I wrote RR that I would eventually put Andy into a story of his own. Separately, I had conceived of an idea for a holiday-themed story, Silver and Gold, and at the time, the two characters were random.

Then I had the thought that Andy was my "Gold" for the story, and I took off with the story on that premise, writing the first two chapters, and then pausing. I then wrote an alternate first chapter, then stopped again. Put all the stuff I had written into some semblance of order, and just as I was getting to the point where the characters from RR would be brought into the story, I stopped. Full stop.

I really like Andy, and I think the biggest stumbling blocks to his being my "Gold" are the time and space constraints. Time because as it's a "holiday" story, there isn't enough time wrap up any kind of relationship in a couple weeks to a month. And I'd like Andy to have a relationship, not just an encounter. The other problem is the word count restrictions. A maximum of 18K doesn't allow for much development, and also doesn't leave much space for me to check in with Chaz and Justin to see how things are progressing there.

So tonight, amidst a long, rambling chat with another author (thanks Shawn), I decided that I'd be better off giving Silver and Gold to a couple as of yet unknown heros, and waiting to give Andy the kind of story he deserves when there aren't limits to be observed. I must say, I feel lighter for having made the decision, and if it weren't so late, I'd be pulling up the file and working. As it stands, I think I'll take a hot bath and think up the names and backstories for my two new guys. They have a busy day tomorrow, so I want to make sure we're on a first-name basis!

Edited to add: Shawn took this thought and ran with it in her blog post today...check out http://smlgr8.blogspot.com/ . Thanks Shawn, D.