Welcome to Uncertain Destinies, and to Stillwater, Minnesota.
Uncertain Destinies is a series with many layers that allow the reader to turn the pages on a unique journey. The stories are simple at times and complex at others. The series moves through telling the story between plot-driven focus and the more emotional character-driven story.
The first three books of the series are plot-driven in nature. There is a larger emphasis placed on the actual plot vs. diving in and getting a feel for the characters or understand feelings or motivations. The plot twists, actions, and external conflicts are what make up this style of storytelling. In the first three books, the goals of the story are more external in that they focus on the development of a situation or situations.
As the series begins the fourth book, Transitions, the story shifts to that of a character-driven way of telling the story.
In a character-driven story, the focus becomes more on the inner conflict of the characters. The reader spends time thinking about the characters, their attitudes, personal evolutions, and decisions they are making. Those decisions are what ultimately shape the plot and the story taking place around them. While you are spending more time with the characters and their emotions, you are more likely to feel their emotions. In this style, characters feature multiple layers to them which are exposed as the story develops.
Where the first three books of Uncertain Destinies feature the plot devices heavily, and the fourth book features a great amount of character emotional involvement, the fifth book strikes a balance between the two. I believe they can go hand in hand and not need to be exclusive. Maybe that’s why the further you read into Uncertain Destinies the better it becomes. As the world evolved my writing and style evolved. You do have to keep at the series, there’s a lot going on in the first few episodes of Will the Circle Be Broken? but as you turn the pages it all becomes clear and the plot kicks in. A plot which leads to character development and some of the greatest moments of the series. With the re-release of book five, Eyes in the Dark, shortly we’ve only just cracked the surface in the town of Stillwater, Minnesota. Beyond the darkness of book five lies what I consider the absolute best of the entire series.