A story that tells itself

That is precisely what my novel has turned into, and it was no more prevalent than this morning when I sat down to finish out chapter four. It turned out NOTHING like the first and second drafts, and took a completely different, albeit more directional, turn than I had originally seen. While trying to figure out how to present certain characters and give them an entirely new look, they seem to have figured it out themselves and it has made this task so much easier.

One thing I was wanting to accomplish with this telling was make the book a bit darker in feel and give a sense of uncertain to the characters who are leading the way, while also keeping it light enough that it wouldn't completely suspense out the rest of the story. Keeping with that mixture of dark and light, it makes it a bit easier to put actions in words because now I'm at the point that I am allowing the characters to mold themselves. The main bad guy, while always cunning, conniving and arrogant - has now taken a new turn in showing his lust for murder. I've always wanted him to be a polar opposite of the main character, and it is starting to take shape right before my own eyes. It's strange how this works, and breath is given to figments of the imagination.

Involving old characters in new ways is a bit of a challenge as well, but seems to working out thus far (in that the entire team sees a fair amount of actions as well as the main character), while including minor characters given some "screen" time out of the essence of developing bonds between them and others. One example of this would be showing how a pet dog is willing to place himself in harm's way to protect the two gals that saved him. Dogs are the epitome of loyalty and know that their efforts saved him and he is willing to repay that debt with his life if necessary. Add in that I have ideas for a couple new characters to make introductions at some point, it's turning itself wide open now and my entire will is now focused on writing instead of working through problems. Letting the characters handle them is much more preferable at this point, because they understand the situations better than I do it would seem.

Changes:
-New outline on Chapter Four, and possibly Chapter Five.
-New characters to be introduced within the next few chapters.
-Spreading the wealth persay on team interactions and combat (trying to get all of them involved so its not just the main character doing all the work).
-Scratching out details on making combat scenes flow a bit better.
-Trying to avoid the moniker of imperial stormtrooper tropes, which is difficult in itself.

To top it all off, found a couple soundtracks that I had been searching for and my book now has opening title and "credits" for each chapter that is starting to play out like episodes of a television series. Ah, how things change.