moment of truth

I’ve come to a moment of truth.

I’ve hit a spot in my story where I’m not sure what happens next.

This isn’t a situation like writer’s block, where I don’t have any ideas. This is a situation where I have too many ideas, and I don’t know which direction I should take. The decision I make now will have a huge impact on the rest of the story.

My story so far has been a fairly generic medieval style fantasy story. Kings and emperors, knights in shining armor, fair ladies, barbarian warriors, a fool playing tricks, a sneaky thief, archers, beasts, and ancient legends of monsters and long forgotten civilizations. With a few twists, of course, but nothing too crazy. Yet. The only thing missing so far is magic. I’m still trying to figure if magic exists, and/or what it looks like.

At this point in the story, my little band of characters have discovered an ancient fortress deep in the mountains.

But what do they find? There are so many options. I’ve had at least four different ideas, with numerous variations of each bouncing back and forth in my brain.

Fun fact – I started to write down some of the various options/ideas I’ve come up with. In doing so, I’ve discovered what happens next.

Fun fact – It was an option I hadn’t thought of before. Well, a combination of one I had thought of before and a new one.

So, lesson learned. When unable to decide what direction to take, write down all your options. List them out. Perhaps you’ll discover something new. Perhaps your path will be made clear.