I'm thinking about completely scrapping Obsidian Raven and starting over

Lately I've been following my gut with a lot of stuff, and it's actually been working out for me a lot.

I'm currently collaborating with a YouTuber I've been watching for over a decade, I'm making small but constant strides with my comics, I've made significant progress on a new comic book, and I think my projects are all turning out pretty well.

Lately my gut is telling me it's almost time to return to Obsidian Raven. Not yet, but almost.

And if I'm to hear my gut out on this, it's telling me to scrap what I have. All 37,000 words. And start over.

From scratch.

I will admit, I wasn't happy with where it was going. It felt disjointed and messy. It felt like I was forcing a story that didn't fit the overall narrative I was aiming for.

The Flight has, and always has been, explicitly about Paul. Ruben's perspective of their trip in Ruby Bird was primarily to set up the differences between their world views, Ruben is fine with sticking to the status quo and avoiding conflict, especially with his past, wherever he can. He gets irritated if things aren't exactly how he expects them to be, and he'd rather sacrifice his own comfort for the sake of familiarity than make any grand attempt at changing himself or his life.

Paul is the total opposite. He dives deep into his past. He wants to understand why he is the way he is. He wants change in his life, he needs it, he's quite literally ready and willing to die just to change what his life is now.

That's why he's an addict to every substance he gets his hands on. He wants change, he needs it, even if it's just in his mind.

I didn't originally set out with that in mind when I first started Obsidian Raven. I actually had a lot of it written over a year before Jade Eagles was even done. At one point I was trying to write all 3 books at one time, for the sake of cohesiveness, but that obviously didn't work out. A lot ended up being scrapped from Jade Eagles as well, so this feels inevitable with Obsidian Raven too.

In the end, this is Paul's final moment to shine in the series. I want to make it special, even if it takes a lot longer.