The Way Back

I've had trouble finding my way back after being sick for almost six weeks. Finally, I feel almost normal so it is time to return to putting words on the page. The momentum I conjured during November and continued with through December has fled. The mere thought of working on The Valiant is filling me with dread. Writing the first draft wasn't as hard as editing has been.

CuzWriMo was a bust. I  started the first chapter of The Hunted four times. I can see the opening scene in my mind. My main character is driving her beat up inherited Volvo down the interstate with the windows down. It is early summer and she is still searching for her runaway partner. The difficult part is summarizing what happened in The Valiant in a non-boring non-exposition manner. What details do I reveal for people who didn't read the first book and what do I leave out?

My cousin didn't fare much better. As I healed, she became ill. We both signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo next month. I want to lock away the inner editor and feel free to vomit my story on the page. The draw back will be the editing process after the month is over, but I want to get the story down before it leaves me and I forget what happens.When I envisioned The Valiant, it felt like a series or at the least a trilogy. The story was bigger than one book.

I remind myself the important thing is I am writing again, no matter how terrible the words are. I didn't write anything of substance for almost two years. Finding my path again feels good.

Back Story

Due to errands and babysitting, I wasn't able to work on my timeline as planned. By around eight o'clock my body was crying foul and my eyes refused to remain open. Just because I didn't open up the computer doesn't mean I wasn't working on my story. I was thinking about the supernatural elements and how The Order of the Valiant came into being.

People don't just wake up one day with special abilities. (Heroes excluded) These things have to come from somewhere or develop over time. There are no radioactive spiders in my tale, so I need to know where all these powers came from, how they are passed to others, and why the Order banded together in the first place.  These things will be not mentioned in detail through blocks of exposition. But as the creator of my world, I need to know how things work in order to write a believable story.

After spending so much time yesterday thinking about my story, I dreamed about it last night. During the dreams, I think another book idea was formed. The result was I woke up excited and eager to capture the remnants of the dream in text so it doesn't disappear forever. I'm stepping back from the timeline today and devoting my writing time to creating a plausible back story for the series. Correction, a more detailed back story than the one I currently have.