Mary Catelli's Erraticly Updated and Exceedingly Ill-Organized Journal

Plugging along into action. The hero thinks he has rescued the children, not realizing he has fallen into a trap, and he's about to lose them again.

And then I remember I thought the next scenes would be in winter. Which means that they would be winter here, or at least late fall. Furthermore they were outside during the semi-rescue so they would know it.

sigh

I suppose there could be a gap in time between this scene and the next, but not too long because that would reflect badly on the hero. Except, oops, it can't be even that long because of what the villainess will do.

Investigating springs. As in, reasoning that my one time seeing a spring perhaps was unrepresentative, and perhaps I should have some comparison.

It's amazing how many things are labeled as springs when they mean spring-fed.

Did find enough to ensure the unpreposing spring I was putting in was reasonable.

The hero is in an enchanted castle, which will protect him.

Outside is an ill-minded crow witch, who will try to kill him.

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There's a scene.

It takes up moments of a character's life, but it shows many things about the necromancers, and also poses him a choice that he will have hanging over his head for the next few years.

Which means I have to expand on it enough to explain its impact on the main character.

It helps that I can elaborate the scene before and after. That, too, is new to him, and creepy. It gives it more context. But the moment itself is important.  It's fun to write

The heroine sails up to the port.

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Was paging through fairy tale collections for a story about a prince and a princess in nearby castles but NOT actually across the street from each other -- as I like neither the prince, nor the princess, nor the plot in that one -- and then --

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There I was having happily matched up the princes to their tales and plugged along with the story.

Then I thought of having her father's coronation in the story to provide some variation and set up a location.

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figuring out the weakness of the opening: it's two scenes, and the first is mostly info-dumping.

It should start in the forest, talking about firebirds and golden stags and info-dumping there, because it's not much information, actually.

So all I have to do is dump four pages and rewrite. Which is trivial. I've done much more.

sigh So I'm still bracing myself for it. The writing life.

Ah, words.

Was thinking of some villains and giving them the name of closest approximation in the real world: Leveler. Much later, remembering how often the term "level" gets thrown around in D&D. (Those not familair can check out this.) Most D&D characters would probably think that a leveler is someone who wants to gain levels, and therefore experience points, at all costs, not someone who wants to bring everyone down to the same level.
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All the other locations, I concluded, are getting names.  The castle, the valley, the store -- iconic, even archetypal locations, they are nevertheless not going to be The Place.

I'm not sure about the Lighthouse.  The name has to fit the status, after all.  And owing to the magic of the world, there are indeed no other functional lighthouses -- this one remaining for the enchantments that use its significance.