Sunday, January 31, 2016

A new project for a new year

With the Critique Survival Guide now out in the wild, it’s time to turn to new horizons. I can finally get back to a project I’ve been longing to work on for ages - a sequel to Ghosts of Innocence.

I keep a small document where I summarize progress of projects through various stages of production. It was a shock to see that it’s been over six years since I last looked at this one. I had started it, drafted some scenes, made some notes, then set it aside to polish and publish Ghosts, then write and publish Tiamat’s Nest.

This is an exciting stage of a book. At the moment I have a lot of scattered characters and events but only the vaguest sense of direction. Looking back on my old notes I’m refreshing my memory on loads of ideas and plot twists I’d completely forgotten about, which is a strange feeling. At the same time I realize the whole story badly needs a strong boot up the ass. The high level plot and conclusion had always felt weak to me, which is one reason I set it to one side all those years ago, but I’ve now got some ideas on how to up the stakes to a more satisfying level.


10 comments:

stephen Hayes said...

Sometimes time is needed for a project to finally come into focus. I look forward to reading about your progress.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You just needed a little time and distance. Cool you're going to work on the sequel now.

Anonymous said...

Yes....yes.....a sequel. I`ve been waiting for this.

Botanist said...

Stephen, my writing does seem to benefit from time apart. It happened with Tiamat, too.

Alex, it's been on my mind for a long time. I think the time is right at last.

Delores, no pressure then :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Ian - that's great you've got the draft and can take it up a notch or two ... good for you - and good luck .. cheers Hilary

Botanist said...

Hilary, not much drafted as yet, just a few scenes and a rough outline. Need to get my head around all the moving parts again...

Shell Flower said...

It's probably worth it to take a step back for years to properly execute a plot. Also, I LOVE the image at the end of this post. Did you create that? Does it relate to Ghosts? It's really amazing, either way.

Oh, yeah, and I totally want to read your Survival Guide!

Botanist said...

Shell, the picture in the post is indeed mine. It's one of a series of rough sketches I did for cover concepts for Ghosts. As you can see, I went with one of the other designs in the end but I did like this one too.

Misha Gerrick said...

I love this stage of writing. The drawing you did is beautiful.

Botanist said...

It's an exciting stage, isn't it Misha?

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