When I first started outlining the Elemental Destiny series, I did a lot of research and wrote down a lot of random stuff. I wasn’t sure how much of it I could or would use – I just knew it could fit into the arc of the story, depending on which way I took certain characters or parts of the plot.

Some of these items were links to webpages with research or historical events that I could tie-in with the plot. Some was just random musings like “What if XXXX had an abusive relationship they escaped?” or “XXXX’s relationship with their parent will be critical.”

It’s important to let you brain free-form float like that when you’re hashing out a book because you never know where it will take you. And just as important as being random with your storyline is writing it all down.

I just went back and looked over some old notes and got hit between the eyes by an amazing piece of random that will send my 2nd book of the series soaring somewhere I hadn’t even considered going. Now I’m excited and I can’t slow down as the words come pouring out – and that’s an incredible feeling, let me tell you.

(cracking knuckles and rolling up sleeves)

Oh, this is gonna be good.