Guys, if you haven't read up until chapter 20, don't read this post.


I've gotten a reaction of surprise from readers about the newest chapter of Willa.

Spoiler alert: Errol got a girl pregnant in France.

Now, I get why this came as a surprise: that's what I intended. But I also understand that there was no (intentional) foreshadowing about this and I only ever mentioned that Errol doesn't like to talk about his past. So, in a lot of ways, this is more of a surprise than I actually wanted.

I'm going to try to explain myself. When I started Willa I really only had a vague idea as to what I actually wanted to do with the story. I just knew that I wanted to write a romance and I wanted it to start it in a way that reminded me of Mansfield Park. That's it. I wanted a girl who was unconventional for her time and pair her with a guy that was the same way. Two anachronisms falling in love.

Then, for a twist, I began to hate Twilight. Really hate it. I'll admit that I've only skimmed the first book or two, but it's the idea alone that I hate. A weak, mindless female lead falling for a guy who is more or less a stalker. Don't get me started on the writing itself. I didn't get through any of the books for the simple fact that it made me want to scratch out my own eyes.

Anyways, I wanted to play off of this. I hate female leads who end up subdued and overpowered by the man they're in love with. Who was once a strong character becomes weak and ineffectual just because she's in love. Maybe it's the feminist in me, but that really grates on my nerves.

So, about four or five chapters in I decided I wanted to eschew this trope as much as possible.

Willa and Errol were NOT going to end up together at the beginning of this story. No, I'm serious. They weren't. That's what all the ambiguity was about. Actually, to be honest, Asher was supposed to enter in as the more grounded of the two men and at the end, when faced with a choice, Willa was going to be her usual, pragmatic self and pick Asher.

That's not the case now (yes, you can all breathe a collective sigh of relief).

All of this compacted means: After all of the above played in to the plot, I originally planned for Errol's "mistake" to be the force that drove him and Willa apart permanently. Now, this project has turned into a "How much can I reasonably redeem one man?" challenge. If things seem weird and confusing right now, they'll get fixed. Or I'll try at least.

Now for big spoilers. Anyone who doesn't want to know ahead of time something that will come into relative importance later should not highlight the bottom of this page.

(The girl Errol got pregnant and the baby both died during delivery. It's not as Deus ex Machin'd as it looks, it only gets more complex after that.)

First Post!

So this is here for the benefit of the people who read my stuff on fictionpress.

Hi guys!

Right now I'm working on a few different pieces but my main focus is a historical romance inspired by Jane Austen named Willa.

It can be found here:

Willa

My other works can be found on my profile page:

Fair Winds