A quick glance at her watch confirmed that she had overslept. She muttered a curse, throwing off her blanket and past tried to stand but the boat rolled and she found herself reaching out to the bunk to steady herself.

“No sealegs yet?” a bemused voice observed. She turned to see the Farer Captain Laird standing in the doorway, his arms crossed, watching her stumble about with an amused expression.

“I’m a Luminari not a Farer,” she forced herself to reply coolly, though her knees buckled as the sea continued to roil. “We tread on solid ground.”

“Surrounded by demons, mutants and Wraith,” Laird chuckled.

“I’d gladly trade that for some solid ground right now,” Cecilia growled, stumbling again.

Laird was still amused. “And I’ll take a 100 foot wave over a band of Wraith, any day. Be not so conscious, Knight. Your sealegs will come in time. And the swells today by most Farers’ eye are bad.”

Of course, my characters have grown and evolved from how I originally envisioned them. Some only barely resemble their original concept. In the process, I’ve found myself more or less befriending them. Which, unfortunately, makes it much harder to put them in the situations that will move the plot.

As a writer, I find myself having to divorce myself from my characters in a “tough love” sort of way. “This will hurt me more than it hurts you.” I know what I want to happen in my plot and I know who the plot movers have to be. I also know what these situations will do to my characters. My characters will grow and change. Some will change for the better, others not so much. Some may not be who they were before their plot started.

Is challenge a necessity to good story telling? Sure. But I have to admit that it is more than a little bit heartbreaking for me as their creator.