I finished up the newest version of chapter 3 very early this morning and should finish the next draft of chapter 4 within the next couple hours. Once I actually sit down and start pushing through things, the revisions go a lot faster, but these early draft of the first chapters weren’t very strong. Now that the first full draft of the story is complete, I’ve found that revising the first chapters has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. I have to be careful about how much I change because all those changes have to carry through the revisions of the rest of the book.

Also looming in the back of my mind is the fact that I’m not entirely certain what will qualify as a satisfactory ending for what is designed to be the first book in a series. I want it to end on a cliff hanger with an ambiguous ending like many horror stories do, but I’m afraid that if I end where I want that I will not receive a passing grade for this class. I’m not really sure what a satisfactory ending will be for this type of work, but it’s causing me a little stress. I’ve already added another chapter to the end, but even that leaves things up in the air. I’m not writing romance so I don’t need Ryn to wind up married and pregnant at the end, and that wouldn’t make sense with the rest of the story anyway. I can’t kill all the bad guys, nor can I answer all the questions about what’s going on in the world. It’s a little unsettling, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out.