124:
3/24/2023
I’m not sure what to do with this next chapter with Alena. I’ve got lots of ideas, but none of them are screaming YES! The original idea was to illustrate Alena having a vision of Diallo; with some of the elements of his quest and some things yet to come – with him meeting Mabolo, the goddess of death. And I still want to include that in the chapter, but I no longer feel the timing is right for yet another surreal dream sequence. So, I was thinking about not actually showing the vision to the reader, but only Alena’s reactions to it upon waking. Her describing it to someone. Also, since it’s the middle of the day – all these last few chapters of The Ghost Frog story arc are taking place during the same day – I can’t title the chapter Night Terrors like I planned to. Her vision came to her during the day, perhaps while taking a nap, so it will probably just be called Visions. Though I suppose since she’s merely recalling the vision through dialogue to someone else, the actual vision could have taken place during the night.
Doesn’t matter. Still can’t use Night Terrors if the whole chapter takes place during the light of day.
I would also like to have some foreshadowing in this chapter for the fable that follows it, Tapu Steals the Sun. I got some ideas for that, tying it into Alena’s vision and having it reflect Alena’s own situation, not wanting to be somebody’s treasure to be captured and hidden away in a pot like the sun in the fable. I’d also like to underscore how the wasps, the mouse, and the hawk in the fable represent Bakar, Dougga, and Tamal. Not sure how to pull that off though.
I also want to include Joyul, Kiza, and Anaka in the chapter. All three of them need to be seen again, and I thought I could use Kiza and Anaka to illustrate a little more the concept of the amori as a third gender. Maybe have Alena only half-jokingly suggest she’d be better off if she chose the path of the amori. I’m also considering having all four of these girls building a hut together – Kizaa’s and Anaka’s marital hut – as a framework for Alena’s conversation with them.
This all sounds fine, and it seems to work well for bringing together all the elements I want in this chapter. Except… it’s just not screaming YES! to me. It feels okay, but not exciting. What I’m really craving for this scene is new, fresh, and truly evocative imagery of a setting within the village that is unlike anything we’ve yet seen. Like what I did with Badru and her home within the substructures and the giant hollowed out tree where she performed Diallo’s ritual of protection.
I brainstormed a list of ideas for a new village setting with evocative imagery that excites my imagination, but none of them seem to be appropriate for the elements I want to explore in this chapter. I really like the hut-building motif, I just can’t seem to figure out how to place that within an imagery-intensive backdrop.
I got today (Friday) and the whole weekend to figure it out though. Technically, I don’t begin writing this chapter until Monday. I was just hoping to get a head start on it, which I have in terms of collating ideas for it.
We’ll see what happens.
Present-Day Reflection
9/26/2026
Before
