A new direction
A little while ago my writing stalled. There were a number of factors involved in this; some of which I will spare you but I will confirm they included a slight question in my mind about the story I was writing. You see I was writing a science fiction novel set in a future version of Africa which I just wasn't getting. Now I still think that somewhere inside the idea is a good novel, I just need to rethink some elements of it and maybe do a little more research first,
So I have spent the time since I stopped writing doing a little thinking. I keep notebooks wherever I go in case ideas come to me and I want to make a record of them before the flit away. So I sat down and read through a dozen or so of them (yes, I am kind of obsessive) in the hopes one of the ideas might jump out and demand to be written.
After a while I narrowed the list to three of the stories and let my brain wander through each of them to see which one grew enough meat on the bones to be the one to go with. And of course the answer was none of them but not because I felt these ideas were substandard or that my brain was refusing to do the writing stuff. No, it's because my subconscious mind came up with an entirely new idea. And this one grew flesh at such an alarming rate that I simply can't ignore.it. Without doubt it is my next novel project.
I'll give you a brief outline - it's another YA fantasy story set in a land controlled by an oppressive church and our lead character - a 12 year old girl at the start of the story - will become embroiled in a battle of good vs evil in the classic kind of way. And before you accuse me of being anti-religious, you might not be right in thinking the church is the bad guy. I might be an atheist but it doesn't mean I'm going to spend every hour I'm awake arguing down religion. The church dominated society is crucial for one element of the story to work. It's just going to be a story about people - oh and maybe demons and magic.
Anyway I have a new notebook underway with pages and pages already covered in story ideas and I'm about to give writing the first chapter a go. I'm not going to be writing this regularly for a little while yet; I haven't filled in enough of the plot to do that yet but I am fairly happy with the start and want to find the mood of the story. Wish me luck.
So I have spent the time since I stopped writing doing a little thinking. I keep notebooks wherever I go in case ideas come to me and I want to make a record of them before the flit away. So I sat down and read through a dozen or so of them (yes, I am kind of obsessive) in the hopes one of the ideas might jump out and demand to be written.
After a while I narrowed the list to three of the stories and let my brain wander through each of them to see which one grew enough meat on the bones to be the one to go with. And of course the answer was none of them but not because I felt these ideas were substandard or that my brain was refusing to do the writing stuff. No, it's because my subconscious mind came up with an entirely new idea. And this one grew flesh at such an alarming rate that I simply can't ignore.it. Without doubt it is my next novel project.
I'll give you a brief outline - it's another YA fantasy story set in a land controlled by an oppressive church and our lead character - a 12 year old girl at the start of the story - will become embroiled in a battle of good vs evil in the classic kind of way. And before you accuse me of being anti-religious, you might not be right in thinking the church is the bad guy. I might be an atheist but it doesn't mean I'm going to spend every hour I'm awake arguing down religion. The church dominated society is crucial for one element of the story to work. It's just going to be a story about people - oh and maybe demons and magic.
Anyway I have a new notebook underway with pages and pages already covered in story ideas and I'm about to give writing the first chapter a go. I'm not going to be writing this regularly for a little while yet; I haven't filled in enough of the plot to do that yet but I am fairly happy with the start and want to find the mood of the story. Wish me luck.
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