Take it away, Tyrean!
Starting Over Again
Since 2007, I’ve
been working in one main fantasy world. Champion
in the Darkness took several re-writes to bring to completion in 2013, and
I followed it with Champion in Flight
(2014), and Champion’s Destiny
(beginning of 2016).
As I finished
the last book, I started thinking of other ways to expand the Aramatir world
with other trilogies. However, I had promised myself that I would do something
different this year. I even had three “new-old” projects lined up, partially
prepared to go.
Then, in the
midst of my Short Story Writing Time (I have time set aside for each kind of
writing), I stumbled upon a character and a dilemma that wasn’t going to
resolve quickly. In fact, I was 7,000 words into it before I realized that I
had written the start of a new novel, and not a short story.
So, now I’m in
“A Whole New World” (Cue Music from Aladdin).
But I feel like
Luke looking for R2D2 on the horizon, unsure of how much trouble I’m going to
be in as I chase down the new droid idea.
I thought I
would have my rough draft of this new project done by now. Cue: hysterical
laughter.
What was I
thinking?
I love entering
a new story, but getting all the layers of world-building together has been
both challenging and exciting. I’m only a quarter of the way into my rough
draft and it’s a completely horrifying mess. I changed from 1st POV
to 3rd POV and back to 1st POV in the first three
chapters as I’ve been challenging myself to write in 1st POV; it’s
distinctly weird for me to write like that for a character but I felt I needed
to get closer to her. I also changed from present to past tense in two chapters,
and I’m not sure which one I like best.
I feel like I’m
starting everything all over again – everything.
I’ve been doing
research, taking notes, asking myself questions, digging into the history of
the world as well as the history of the characters, and I feel like this
project will be better than anything else I’ve ever written. (Or . . . no, I
just won’t go there.)
However, it’s
going to take more than a month or two to write. It might take six months, or
it might take a year. (I’m trying not to think longer.)
Meanwhile, I’m
trying to keep a few non-fiction projects running and some real short fiction
moving through the submission cycles.
Is it just me, or is it hard to start over again?
Tyrean
Martinson
