A fictional death in the family

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Some squares for my current quilt, which is nearly done!

This morning in my WIP I killed off a character. I knew this person wasn't going to survive, but I hadn't known that today it was going to be the end for them. The chapter was meandering along, then WHOMP, a life was over. I sat there for several minutes afterwards, a little stunned. Then for the next hour or more I was still unsettled. Writing nearly every day, I have become fond of these folks, as though I have another set of relatives. Except now I have one fewer.

I'm almost 72K into this story, definitely on the downhill slide. The fallout of said demise will now usurp the plot for a few chapters, then this novel will wrap up with a cliffhanger, leading into the second book of the series, which I actually wrote last month. That draft needs a fair amount of revising, then more added to it. But as I come to the end of what is the opener, I'm a little emotional, not having killed off a beloved character in a book for a long time.

Yet a writer needs to break a few eggs or the souffle ain't gonna rise. This story and its many subplots has been heavily on my authorial mind; I've talked out dialogues while weeding, pressing the emerging rainbow quilt top, or any other moment where chatting to oneself won't incur raised eyebrows. I'm trying to not get too far ahead of myself, but that's difficult, even when writing one chapter daily. The scope of this saga spans generations, galaxies, timelines.... If I can pull it off, wow, that will be awesome.

And it all starts now, late winter and early spring of 2023 in the wettest year California has had since 2017. We're over 100% of normal for rainfall, but finally warmer weather and plenteous sunshine has muscled out the drenching storms. And on this bright, beautiful day I said goodbye to a fictional member of my novelistic clan.

(Or did I, hehehe....)

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