So Very Blocked :(

Well, that whole "let's stumble around being disjointed" thing isn't working out so well. I can think of lots of events to write about. But I don't want to do any of them because none of them seem to have any point. There has to be a reason for the events before I write them.

So where they are now is in Aunlania. They ran there to escape from their father. I've decided to alter the setup slightly and say it's several decades later. The last chapter in Lagarnica will be too, in the second draft. They managed to hide for a while, but their father finally caught up and nearly killed Charles, hence they decided it was time for a whole new continent.

In Aunlania there are native folk hiding in the mountainous swamps (yes, I realize that's geographically unlikely), and they've fiercely defended their remaining lands from outlanders that are still, occasionally, trying to take it away from them. Ideally the native folk would like to take back all of Aunlania, but realistically they're just trying to survive. The problem with their lack of spirit shamans is part of that.

So now we have the Duchene brothers coming in, claiming an abandoned fort as their new house, and all they really want to do is survive too. Plus build a nice quiet rural life. As far as I can tell. Part of my problem is that they don't seem to have any workable goals; this wasn't a problem in Part I because although Edward himself had no specific goals, a bunch of other people did, and they were using him as a pawn for their own ends. But now? I don't have a bunch of little-known third parties to do those roles of jerking them around.

There are also outlanders (calling themselves "Aunlanians") who would like to colonize the remaining native folk lands. Every once in a while they probably send missionaries into the forests, and those missionaries are generally never heard from again. There might also be a few traders that are allowed to go in and out - Arrun (who showed up out of nowhere in Attempt #1) is probably one of those.

Then there might be Arthur Glorian, who is actually their eldest brother. He and their father had a falling out when Charles was too young to remember, before either Edward or James were born. Arthur might be somewhere in the area too, doing what, I'm not sure. If he's anywhere he's likely to be in with the native folk.

All of which boils down to: I have no opening conflict. I've got lots of parties, but no plot. Events I could conceivably write for no reason: have the native folk capture Edward while he's running around as a wolf, have the native folk capture Charles while he's in the woods gathering herbs for his spells, have an arrogant missionary go by on his way into the forest to never be seen again.

Maybe I should flesh out the Aunlanians more.

Guess I'll just go write the missionary scene just so I have some words tonight.