Understandably, I was burnt out on writing after NANOWRIMO. So I decided I’d devote December to reading and recharging. I would return to my NANO first draft at a later date.
But the itch to write and/or edit was too much. I have no idea why — but this YA novel came to mind and I dug it out of the pile to work it over yet again. The original working title was The Quest for the Thing. As in, it doesn’t matter what the MacGuffin is as long as it provides for a good story. I titled a later draft Quest Schmest, as above. The current rewrite goes under the working title Vanda’s Quest.
Two ideas sparked the original story that dates back (as far as I can determine) to 2005. The teenage female protagonist uses brains in place of brawn on the quest for a magical object. And, no one asks the horses if they want to go on a quest. The earliest drafts included commentary by an opinionated chestnut mare. Then I eliminated the anthropomorphic passages in later drafts. Now I’m undecided about using the red mare Frantiska’s observations. But doesn’t every “owner” of a dog, cat, or horse wonder what they’re really thinking?
Anyway, before Brave came out in 2012, I had the idea of a Princess who disrupts every marriage contract her father attempts to negotiate. Meanwhile, the realms of my fantasy continent are threatened by an enchanter set on restoring the powers of a magical talisman that will allow him to return magical rule over the lands. When a quest is declared to locate and destroy the talisman while the enchanter is absent, the protagonist’s frustrated father declares the successful quester will win her hand in marriage. So of course, to prevent such a tragedy the protagonist decides she must be the successful quester. Adventure ensues.
So here I am bouncing back and forth between two earlier versions of the novel trying to salvage the best passages from both as I rework the novel using Save the Cat! Writes a Novel as a structural guide.
ACK! As Bill the Cat would say.
Mary S. Potter 