Subconscious Plotting

Dragon

Dragon

So yesterday, I was thinking about the big, bad showdown for the last book in The Cloud Lands Saga series. When I do that for any fight, I start seeing scenes in my mind, a bit like a private movie.

And then I look for plot holes.

Are the characters being logical? Or are they acting under stress and do illogical things, but it’s still realistic? I often freeze the frame to think of alternatives.

And this time, I saw Ferren ducking under a roof overhang because a dragon was hovering above him. So far so good. The dragon won’t flame the thatch roof, because he is protecting the village, not attacking it. So Ferren is safe for the moment to continue with his nefarious plan.

All right.

But Ferren is an aggressive, ruthless character with a terrible grudge. He’s there to kill the person he hates with insane intensity.

Would he just hide from a dragon?

Not really. As long as he has the time to do something about that dragon pointing him out, he will.

And so he did. Quickly and decisively.

Scene complete.

And the amazing beauty of this visual editing I did of that scene is that it solved another plot problem quite handsomly. I only realized that later in the day when thinking about the larger plot of the story.

The injured dragon won’t be able to fly back to the Western Kingdom until he heals. And that suits me very, very well. (Mwuahahahaha.)

I love my writing brain. And I love it when a plan comes together.

About Hannah Steenbock

Hannah Steenbock is an author, dreamer, and coach. She has published several short stories in English and German, as well as one novel in German. In 2013 she started self-publishing her work. In 2014, she has won two awards for her short story "Sequoia".
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