Jaycee Woods

I was thinking about editing ideas for the “Mya Assassin” draft.

Typically I don’t elaborate on fight scenes during drafts as they aren’t the point of the story. In editing this story, I think that I will make an exception as it will be part of the characterization by demonstrating Mya’s competence.

Decided that I will switch her weapon from a katana to a ninjato, shurikens, and a tanto. This will allow her multiple attacks to demonstrate her lethality but also her failure.

In adding weaponless combat, it will be Kenji’s karate vs. her Taijutsu. Again giving her multiple ways to demonstrate expertise while also failing. But also differentiating the characters through the use of different tactics.

In my original draft, the meat of the story is that she begins as the bringer of death, then over tea, after Kenji disarmed Mya, he offered to give her her own secret desire…to become the bringer of life, a mother. The conflict of the story being the sterile life she had chosen versus the life she actually wants for herself.

During editing, there will be an exploration of modernity vs traditionalism in the context of collapsing birth rates around the world. Mya will describe herself as having become a “drone bee” instead of a “queen bee;” thus contrary to the false promise of feminism, she became decentered and sexless instead of achieving equality. Further as a drone, she surrendered her autonomy and individuality in service to the collective. Regarding contemporary modernity versus traditionalism, the resolution becomes embracing the individualism of her own chosen values instead of obedience to others’ vision for what her own life is supposed to be.