Stepping into the water

Hello!

At this very moment, I’m typing and watching Eastenders at the same time, brimming with satisfaction. And no, it is not because I am finally going to see what crazy Lucus does next. The reason is that I have just finished chapter 11, the second one I’ve finished this week.

Unfortunately there were times this week when I felt that the chapters were becoming a bit ropey. I don’t know if it is just me, but as I was writing chapters 10 and the beginning to chapter 11, I was beginning to think that I was failing the novel with my lazy attitude and writing. I felt was running out of steam, more so than the England players last weekend. I did not have the passion I had when I wrote the first fantasy novel three years ago (yes, I did, but I scrapped it when I realised how bad it was!). But funnily enough, when I read through what I wrote, I realised it was not as bad as I thought. I think I was writing with worry and when you do, you always think you are doing badly. I really do need to pack this habit in before it does more creative damage. As my dad says, “when you worry or panic, you always make a mistake – you must learn from the animals – a buffalo stepped into the water and began to panic and that was when he was killed and eaten by the lions”. If you’re wondering, my dad is a huge David Atinbourgh fan.

On a brighter note, I did come up with some new ideas, so I’m not suffering from a complete creative drought. I added to one of my chapters, for as I was brushing my teeth one morning, I realised that I didn’t really think it through thoroughly when I wrote it. In this, the Asurs are training in a field, learning how to wield a sword. Now faced with an opposing army, who have magical powers, and some of whom can fly; I really don’t think that sword wielding alone is going to help them. If anything, it would be like sending a bunch of amateur footballers to play against Brazil. So I decided to mention catapults and other weaponries. Yes, I know catapults are a Greek and Roman invention, but how else are the Asurs going to attack flying creatures? I have also added some mysterious stuff in there…but I’m not going to give that away *tapping at side of nose ;)


I also re-drafted the Prologue, suddenly realising that I did not mention the life-span of the Devs, compared to the humans and the Asurs. And yes, age is quite important because I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve had people complain that they were not sure how old certain people were in my other writings.
I think that is one of the most difficult things about fantasy writing. There are so many things to show and tell to a clueless reader about a strange world like mine and its how to show that that is most difficult. I have always been told by my lecturer to SHOW rather than tell and you don’t want to shove all the information down the reader’s throat in one chapter. That is why I felt that I needed to sprinkle the information throughout the novel when I was writing my opening chapters for my dissertation. However, you need to explain what the races are as early as possible, because as I found out from both my lecturer and friends, it can be confusing as to what the different creatures are.

Currently, I am really pleased with my prologue and the changes I have made, especially the changes I have made to the next following chapters. Yes, I have deviated from the original plan, but I’ve found that a story usually writes itself and you MUST always go with what feels natural. If it makes more sense to do it a different way, go for it! Never shy away from evaluating and changing your baby (as much as you’ll hate it) because as I’ve learned from my Textile course at college, the best ideas are never what you come up with first.