surprise, surprise

As predicted, I'm completely rewriting the battle chapter. Except for the end, which I knew about well before I tried to write the dang thing in the first place.

Also, as is to be expected, I got about half a dozen ideas to make the fight particularly Thistleswitch-y while, you guessed it, in the shower. I really should figure out some sort of pen that I can use to write on the shower wall, so that I don't have to try to rush my otherwise lengthy showers and get to the computer before I forget all the ideas that are swimming around in my head.

Anyway, here's how it went down. When I finished singing the mandatory showtune or two that accompanies all showers, I told myself, Alright. Niko gathers firewood. Then what happens? At which point, Terrence and Jovie (the characters from the barely-formed sequel, who are already dancing around in my head like they own the place) started clamoring for me to work on their story. I calmly informed them that this wasn't an option at the moment, and told them to go make out in the back of my brain so that I could think about the fight scene. At which point Niko complained that he would much rather go have a make out session than battle a dragon. I told him that there would be no making out until the dragon was defeated, and then told the whole lot of characters in my brain to get their ideas churning, because I sure as heck have no clue how to defeat a dragon.

And then, of course, they told me bit by bit exactly what had to happen, making all of my former plans look a bit like smeared bird crap on a windshield.

And that's pretty much what it's like to have characters living in your brain at any given moment. They're usually only distracting and unhelpful (for instance, when you really have to sit down and do your calculus homework, they'll start to whine like heck that you aren't paying enough attention to them) but then, when you really need them to come through for you and tell you what on earth is supposed to happen to them next, they've usually got the perfect solution for you.

If you think that I sound slightly schizophrenic with all this "characters living in my head and talking to me" stuff...I'm really not sure what to tell you. That's just how it is when you're dealing with someone like Merry Songchaser. When they know that they only exist in your mind until you get them out onto paper, they're pretty annoying.

Anyway, hopefully The Chapter in Which Pretty Much Everyone is Defeated seems to be suitably Thistleswitchified now. Hopefully it stays that way.