WELL.

Right before bed last night, I figured out exactly the order of events for the end of the Won His Soul story. Now, I'm a pantser, not an outliner, but it seemed kind of stupid not to write down the basic points, and so I did. And now I know where I'm going and how I'm getting there. I may actually stick an END at the bottom of this thing today.

And then this morning upon awakening, I came up with a first line for the collab-fic with my RP partner, if she likes it. It will be set in this universe, which we call "Probationary Angels."

A little about my process on the Won His Soul story: This is a much more ambitious project than I usually take on. I knew going in that it was going to be long, and that it had a Big Idea of pretty large scope. In fact, it's got three of the four MICE elements (Idea, Character, Event), with some things about the Milieu also playing a fairly significant role. In order to organize my thoughts, I basically whiteboarded the thing on a sheet of paper with a pencil, which is something I've never done before.

This process worked so well that I may carry it forward to other projects. It's a lot more free-form than an actual point-by-point outline, and it let my thoughts be organized while keeping them organic and not too organized, if that makes sense. If you haven't tried it, perhaps you should. :)

OMG THE END.

The Won His Soul story has an END at the bottom and came in at 15,266 words. Which gives me about 1400 words on the day.

I will probably add more in edits, because there was a subplot I wanted in there and didn't quite manage.

In celebration, have a snippet:

Leonas's head whipped around as a roaring wail sounded from everywhere and nowhere. That was all the opening Advaiel needed to lunge forward and force him back against the well with their swords crossed. "Come Home, Leo," he said between his teeth. "You're my brother and I love you. I don't want to hurt you." Which seemed a ridiculous statement, considering both of them were slashed open in too many places to count.

"And that--" Leonas also spoke between his teeth. A dagger appeared in his hand, and he plunged it home between Advaiel's ribs. I felt my own heart stop in response. "Is your weakness, Adva."

Advaiel's legs buckled as Leonas twisted the knife and pulled it free with a great gout of blood following. The angel's face was filled with sorrow and resignation both. He suddenly had a dagger of his own buried to the hilt in Leonas's chest. "It doesn't mean I won't."

Leonas gasped in disbelief as the area around the wound turned black and began to dissolve with a foul odor of rot and brimstone. "I didn't--" The blackness expanded, more quickly than I'd have thought possible. "Didn't think you had it in you, little brother." And then all that was left of him was a dissipating puddle of black and smelly ooze on the ground.

"And that was your weakness, and your pride, Leo." Advaiel dropped heavily to his knees. I leaped to his side, and he leaned against me, wings drooping. "Well. I didn't enjoy that much."

Yaaaaaaaay.