Settled down...a little...

OT is coming together, again. I've dropped a lot of the chatter in the first chapter and focused on things starting to be strained between Jake and Tone, which Jake blames on the situation in Texas dragging on and on and on. But what's even better is, when Jake reconnects with Dion, he reconnects with how much the man meant to him. The unconditional support Dion offered. The fun they had together, even though it was just for a week. How Dion made Jake feel attractive and worth something.

Jake and Antony have always had a rougher, more intense relationship than that...and Jake's getting tired of fighting for something more. Which Antony senses. It's added a lovely undercurrent to the whole story. What had begun to feel like a placid stream now has danger lurking under the surface; not just to Jake as he digs into Owen's disappearance, but also to the life he and Antony share.

It's changed the ending a bit. And made me understand why I did some things I did in it. And lengthened the story some. Right now I have 67,000 words in the connected part and 40,000+ in the ending bit, though a lot of that will now go by the wayside. My ending will be much simpler. Not so much rushing around. And much more evil in the most banal of ways.

This is why I have to keep reminding myself to trust my characters. They know the story; they'll lead me through it. Jake has. Carli will. Brendan will...

...once I let him.