You never know where a story will take you

I had been having a lot of problems with my John Dee short story, "Where the Baptized Drown." My main difficulty was the beginning. I had two problems. One, I couldn't figure out who should be the main character for the story. Two, I couldn't figure out the best place to start the story. I knew the plot and characters, but just couldn't get things right.

So, after many fits and starts with the story, I was pacing the floors one night trying to force myself into working out my difficulties with this tale.

And ... walah!

No, I didn't fix the problems with "Where the Baptized Drown."

Instead, I came up with a whole other John Dee story. And this one is practically writing itself.

It takes place in Milan, Italy, in 1892. John, again, is not known as John. And this story is told in the first person, from John's perspective (something I never considered before now).

What took me down this path wasn't some spark of a new idea, or any feeling of giving up on the original story. I'm keeping "Where the Baptized Drown" on the backburner for now, but I'm not giving up on it. What lead me to this new story was going through the thought process of what was wrong with the original story, and what needs to be implemented to make a John Dee story.

My Dee stories have certain "rules" to them, ones I'll keep to myself. Certain little things have to be pointed out about the character, mainly because they are hints to his past. I also have certain "rules" about the speculative elements in my Dee stories.

I don't have a title for the new tale yet, but the Dee titles also have certain "rules" or themes and I'm hoping to keep with that.

Who knows? Maybe I'll even get one of these things published someday.