Writerly Things & Stuff

When I first wrote 'Through All Eternity' it was called 'Crystal Warrior' and was an ancient story with no modern day component. I changed the name because there were other books of that title around, but even now, it is still 'Crystal Warrior' in my heart.
When I had finished it and killed off all except Ugo in the final great earth convulsions that destroyed Atlantis, I thought the story complete.I gave it to a friend to read and realised that the ending was too horrific when she rang to tell me between sobs, that I'd "killed everyone, even the baby!"
Not sure how the outcome could really be anything else, I revisited and wrote an ending where the child Ugo, still went forward in time and there was no other baby. Gynevra and Taur were able to use their priestly powers to apportate to Crete and finish out their lives there, continuing to build a culture based on love as they had begun to instigate in Atlantis. . . .
Somehow it never felt right and so it got shelved again. But it would never leave me completely. I cannot now remember what gave me the idea to turn it into a time-travel type story but I realised that by so doing I gave the characters a satisfactory way of completing the lifetime so cruelly cut off in 9644BC (or thereabouts ;-). Not only this, there was now a reason for Gina and Torr to relive that ancient life and return to the 20th century with the paranormal powers that would enable them to free Gould and Fran from the strange energy warp of the Bermuda Triangle.
To me it felt much more satisfactory and I hope it does the same for my readers.
I am now using the motivation of NaNoWriMo to write Ugo's story and am really delighted at how the modern day component of his story is shaping up.
Because of course, Ugo is another larger than life hero, 'the king's miracle, a man out of time, out of place'. Watch for him in 'Crystal Dancer'.