End game ... with ships

I'm not a plotter. Far from it – instead, I am very much a "pantser," writing by the seat of my pants, so to speak. But as I explained a week or so ago, at some point, I do have to sit down and figure things out. Sometimes, the endings of my books make themselves obvious to me (of COURSE her best friend is implicated in the murder!). At other times, I realize I've made complications for myself - side stories that have taken on a life of their own and that need their own resolutions.

In my latest WIP (the third Blackie and Care, tentatively titled "Cross My Path," the follow up to "As Dark As My Fur"), I found myself researching the infamous Triangle Trade that enabled slavery in the New World – but enriched the Old World. I first learned about from the musical "1776," in the song "Molasses to Rum to Slaves." But I found myself learning a lot more as I read. And even though the Blackie and Care books take place in a fictional world – a strange dystopian city where everything has broken down – what I've learned has become part of a side story, one that must be properly resolved. How will I do it, dear reader? That is the mystery I am working to solve now.