The Conjurers Webcomic is back! Yep, I’m posting about it again. And I’ll be posting a lot more often. From the beginning, the webcomic was a simple, quick exercise while I was writing the books. It was a small break from plotting, writing and rewriting (and rewriting and rewriting…), and illustrating the novels. Over the years I’ve learned you need creative outlets on the side to keep your main work fresh. At the same time, that outlet can't eat up all your time.

So I compromised. I would do another comics project so long as I could do it quickly and it was related to “The Conjurers”. A webcomic was the perfect medium. I could take secondary characters from the book and send them on their own adventures. It was more beneficial than I could have ever imagined. It helped make two dimensional characters more 3D. I got to see how they behaved when they were the focus of the story. So while the comic was done in a rushed (and admittedly sloppy fashion), the characters became more real and those little details made their way into the books.

In this latest story arc, one such character became even more important. If you’re all caught up on the comics, you know a bit about Latif. She was created strictly for the comic. Cut to writing book three. My main antagonist (one of my favorite characters to date) had a complex backstory that was interwoven with other characters in the book. In order to pull it off, that meant there was a lot more story which meant a much bigger book. Too big. My editor suggested we had to cut her out of the story. That’s the kind of story note you want to ignore or fight or stomp your feet until you get your away. Except that she was right (as usual). 

What does one do with a first draft of a book which has suddenly had the main bad guy ripped out? You could toss it. That of course is a bit drastic considering there are two books that come before it. Or you freak out for a few days until suddenly, yo remember that little side experiment you’ve been scratching away at once a week. And you realize your have the perfect antagonist ready to go: Latif. 

Yep, the cold, mechanical Dr./Pharmaceutical billionaire that came out of nowhere in a webcomic story that was not related to the books was suddenly the star of book three. Her backstory was not as complex or intertwined with the previous plots of books one and two. Which meant she could fit perfectly into book three. On top of that, she’s my kind of villain, in that she does not see herself as a villain. Latif believes she is the hero. 

Now I can’t go on too much more without giving away spoilers. I can say that my former antagonist, Mekinda, will have her story told one way or another. Maybe in the webcomic, or maybe, hopefully, in future books. In the end it’s another valuable lesson that telling stories is not always a clean, straightforward process. Sometimes the biggest hurdles become the sweetest moments of inspiration.