Before Camp NaNo

Before NaNo begins, I usually try to get in a little bit of planning, world or character development, and then some actual writing done so that I'm not struggling to figure anything out right at the beginning. This time I haven't been able to do too much of that because work has kept me busy (and they added two extra days to my schedule this past two weeks... >.<), but I have at least been able to think a few things through, and make some decisions reguarding my story.

I'll be working on my rewrite of Takfin for this NaNo, so I honestly have no idea how it's going to turn out. I've never been very good at following through with rewrites, but I like the direction I'm going in at the moment.

But I'm making a lot of changes in the story over all. So it's taken a lot of thinking as far as how these changes effect the story later on, or even how it effcts the current story. So I figured I would list some of the differences partly for myself so I can keep track of them, and partly so anyone interested could see it.

The first change I've made is in the characters themselves. Bryin, Darvel, and the main antagonist, Vatan, are a lot different. Now for the twins I haven't completely changed their personalities, but some of the character development has been moved towards the beginning. I feel like I've given both of them more motivation, or development as far as their pasts are concerned. Almost like I've gone more in-depth into who they are. Hopefully. XD
As for Vatan, he's a lot younger then I planned for him to be originally. He's closer to the twin's ages and his motivation goes a lot further than just wanting to take over the world. He's much more a person than a villain this time around. And I think I'm a lot happier with that.

And speaking of characters, there was a newer character that I got the idea for late in the series. (Like in the book I'm currently working on now, which is book 7.) His name is Laine, and he's something of a personal guard to Darvel. Though, he actually hates Darvel and is responsible for most of Darvel's angry personality.

Next thing that's changed a lot is the plot as a whole. Darvel is introduced within the first three chapaters, whereas last time he wasn't introduced until about the second book and wasn't important until the third or fourth book. Since Darvel is one of my favorite characters, just like Bryin, I'm glad I figured out a way to bring him in earlier. I feel like he adds a lot to the story and to Bryin's character development as well.
Along with that the first book is going to take place in a new world that isn't Panin. In Darvel, Laine, and Vatan all team up (for their separate reasons) and attempt to get Bryin to hand Takfin to them. After a certain turn of events Laine gets frustrated and then tries to take Takfin away, but only causes them all to be stranded in a world that is unfamiliar to all of them. I feel like the first time I wrote this story, it was very focused on Bryin. Like the whole story was centered on him and there wasn't much else to it. But as I continued to write I added in different characters and stories and Bryin wasn't as important. Starting it like this I feel like I won't have to transition my focus to other characters, and instead it'll be about most of them as a whole. I don't know if that makes sense or not, though...

I think I would have written more of the rewrite if it hadn't been for the new world. I think I may have gotten stuck on ideas, or just didn't want to bother coming up with ideas for a new world, so I just didn't bother. But with NaNo coming up, I convinced myself to figure it all out, and along with that I even developed the magic of my books a little.

All in all, I'm pretty excited to see how much I can write, and where this new story takes me. Even if I had already written it once, everything is so different now, it really is like a new story.

Anyway, thanks for reading! If you have any questions or are curious about anything that I've mentioned, don't hesitate to ask! Also if anyone wants to read any short stories or anything on any of this just let me know. I may or may not feel up to posting a short scene with Darvel, Bryin, Laine, and Vatan in this new world if I can manage to get to that during NaNo. :D