Fight The Fear

I've recently come down with a case of ending-terror, or what is basically the fear of writing the finale to my work in progress. I don't know where it comes from, but I do know when it starts - always when I slow down long enough to actually think of what I am writing. This happened after NaNoWriMo when I had just a handful of chapters left to write for my rough draft, and then took a small break where my brain had a chance to tell me lies about how much pressure there is.

In reality, there is no pressure, other than the pressure that I'm placing upon myself. I've received both good and bad feedback on my first published novel, and now I need to do the same process again. There is a deadline. I'd like to be done by the end of January. But, this fear in my head needs to go. Do you struggle with this fear of completing your art?

For now, I'm just going to plow ahead and hype myself up until I reach the end. I know how it's going to end. I know how things play out. I just need to put them onto the page. Ready? Here we go!

World Building

As I start to explore a few different ideas I have, I come now to the part of the creative writing process where research is essential and world building becomes the foundation of everything else I will write moving forward. A lot of people I've read say that it is easy to get tired of the world you start creating when it comes to fantasy, but I look at it more as a challenge and a framework that the rest of my narrative will hang from so that it doesn't just come crashing down when I reach something that I don't know how to explain.

My process of world building so far has been to look at how things work in our own world and then tweak them to fit my own. I've started a map of the two continents I am creating with names of towns and bodies of water, and then filling in information about all the cultures and peoples that will live in these areas.

I am also making profiles for all of my main players, which I haven't done so far in my writing journey, but decided that this time I would give it a try. So, I'm creating a binder of sorts and filling in all the information I might need for these characters - including pictures of people who are inspiration, etc. It's pretty fun!

So, if I am not updating on here, you know where I am - either work, or working on something that will hopefully end up being an epic novel before the summer. There's another few things in the works, and I will have to start organizing my time more wisely now that I've had a break from the writing marathon. Lots of creative muscles are being stretched in the evenings!

The Wand Chooses The Wizard, Mr. Potter...

As NaNoWriMo came to a close, I found myself with a novel-length chunk of writing, which is the partial first draft of my sequel to Macyntire & Hough (untitled as of yet) - unfinished because I still have to finish writing the finale and the falling action, which is going to have to be muscled through because my brain is in break-mode right now.

I have three or four different projects I'd like to pursue in the coming year (more if I can type fast enough and edit competently), and one of these has recently come to the front of my mind, derailing everything else I had planned to work on. This fascination is one that hasn't been in my system for years, and that obsession is fantasy. I love epic fantasy, though I haven't had enough time or patience to really read a complete epic in a long time (since Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter).

As this new obsession takes over my imagination and writing time, I can't help but think of the famous quote that Ollivander told a young Harry Potter about wands, and how they choose the wizard - not the other way around. This is a lot like the inspiration process. All these characters living in this undiscovered world in my mind are just throwing themselves at me as I drive, as I work, and as I daydream walking through the house. I didn't ask for them, they just presented themselves, and I don't think they're going to be quiet until I work on them. It's amusing, and probably too early to say this, but the story I have in my mind is very similar to one that I came up with back in high school in my first ever creative writing class. That story didn't get farther than a single chapter in a notebook, but this new fleshed out version is pretty interesting to me, and I like the idea of trying a new genre once I finish my sequel to the paranormal romance properly.

Who know? Maybe I can world-build fast enough to type fast like NaNo and then have something to go over that is long and intricate by the spring. It will definitely help out with these cold months of being indoors.

For now, reading and listening to other great and behemoth fantasy works as inspiration. Here we go!