In the last week I’ve crossed over 20,000 words on my middle grade novel, The Spirit Binder. The initial goal was 30,000 words, and that’s fast approaching. Methinks I think I’ll be revising that goal before long.

The current stage is basically a training montage. The main character is Cleodora, who starts out at age ten. But if she’s going to trot out spellcasting and such, I thought her growth and training ought to be on the page. By the time she sets out at age 13, she’ll have had several years of preparation.

It isn’t something I had planned on, but possibly I’m also writing this stage in response to so many stories where a young protagonist is trained to be some kind of super-assassin or thief. Cleodora is learning how to avoid being grabbed, and how to get out of holds. Her spells are things like a shield that deflects attacks, and a light, rather than attacking people herself.

A couple of creeping issues have appeared. Most of the training is under the structure of the guilds I mentioned in an earlier post. I still haven’t come up with titles for the guild leaders and such. I really need to get going on that. Also, my characters in Minstrels of Skaythe used light spells and barriers a lot. I’m not anxious to be repeating myself with their magic.

More seriously, Cleodora doesn’t know who’s behind all the troubles, but she has a spirit companion named Tef who really should have at least some of the answers. I need to come up with a good reason for it to not clue the humans in.

I know I will, though. The first draft is for putting the plot and characters together. Second draft is for fixing plot holes.

I hope you’re all writing along without those creeping issues.

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