Digital Magic - Wrap Up

Last chapter ended suddenly.  That's where I finished Digital Magic at the end of November 2007.  I did not feel that great about the story for many, many reasons.  However, it needs to be wrapped up for closure.

Jackie and Donna have been tossed into fighting each other and trying to keep the raw magic from ripping apart the local space-time continuum.  Ripping the fabric of reality is a major occupational safety and health violation, especially if no one has the permits to do so.  It's a battle of metaphors; can Jackie's computer programming metaphor build up the magic she needs to repair things before Donna's aria builds to a climax?  Jackie has the advantage; she can set a spell off to continue without having to tweak it on the fly.  The drawback is that if she gets something wrong, reality bluescreens.

Of course, Jackie wins this battle of wills and magic, finishing with smacking Donna around with magic for a victory lap.  With the threat over, Lance reappears having rescued himeself from Donna's dungeon.  Self-rescuing damsels are more interesting, though, so Lance's escape remains offscreen.  Donna is dealt with, placed into exile.  Jackie and Lance get their happily ever after, or at least their happily ever after for now, and officially become a couple.  Weather returns to normal in Ottawa, whatever normal is.  Trish gets off Jackie's back about getting a boyfriend.

I cannot write a romance, not as an A-plot.  I got too interested in how magic works to the point where Jackie's relationships never developed.  Lance was more mentor than love interest and Steve was too slick bordering on sleazy for her to consider him for anything more than a one night stand.  Trish was the better romantic lead.  Lesson here - romance isn't my forte.

However, I do have romances building in other stories.  Nasty finally admitted to herself and to Eric how she feels about him in Crossover.  Laura and Mackenzie are a couple in Unruly, though the development of their relationship needs work.  Brenna and Officer Matt came out of nowhere in The Soul Blade and almost derailed the ending.  But the focus of those series is something else beyond the romances.  The romances are subplots, not the main plot, and I'm more comfortable with that approach.

I doubt I will get back to Digital Magic.  What I may do is mine the story for the good parts, like the eyes following on the walls and in mirrors to freak out a main character.  It's a good horror bit, adding spookiness.  I may pull Jacinda out of her video game for a new story and just handwave away how Jackie learned magic.  Odd weather as fallout from major magic is always something to have on hand.

Thank you for putting up with Digital Magic.  The blog will go into a low posting mode for a few weeks while I try to figure out the next serial.  There should be some more gaming posts to make up for the lack of story, and I have some fanfics I can pull out and dusty off if need be.