Beautiful Death

As I reviewed Isabella's scrapbook in preparation for writing this morning, I realized something. Finally. Sometimes I'm really slow on the uptake.

I know Isabella's character arc, how she must move from hatred to love, distrust to trust, control to surrender. What I didn't realize was that I've been cheating. Yes, cheating. I gave myself 3 characters to guide her through this growth.

See, each lover had a purpose.

1. Bryan was her softer gentler side who represented her humanity. His unfailing trust and love led her to the Dark Moment.
2. Charon represented her beast, the darker side, the killer. He would teach her that not all monsters are evil, that she could still find beauty in the world despite the monster she carries inside her.
3. Hades was the main hero, but he wasn't *enough*. As constructed, he only had to be in control. Yeah, he had to give up a few things along the way, but he was relatively two-dimensional. Not flat, exactly, but not enough to stand on his own. Because he didn't have to.

Plus, I was cheating myself out of a darned good sequel to this story. Charon deserves his own book, don't you think?

So I'm going through my characters in my mind and rebuilding Hades. He has to do all three things above. He has to teach her the softer gentler side of love. He has to teach her to embrace her monster, too. And he has to be willing to take Bryan's place in the Dark Moment. Does he love Isabella enough to pay the price?

I believe he does.

So no more cheating. Hades is the hero -- the only hero -- of this book, and he'd better start acting like it. Charon, old buddy, be patient. Your own book is coming. In the meantime, please enjoy acting as the anti-hero in this story.