My silly mistake was this. During the entire course of writing WISB I have not once taken any notes on the world that I have been building. I've not written down extensive information about the characters, the cities, etc. Why is this important? Because I have so much information in the novel itself that it is actually getting a little difficult to keep track of it all. So I've started keeping a database of information using EverNote, a nifty little note taking program. I'm still far far far behind, but so be it. At least now I will be able to keep track of everything. It will all be written down neatly! In a strange way it will be like a personal wikipedia site! Except it's not online, obviously. I am way behind though in regards to everything that has happened in my world. I've only just begun to brush the surface and I think once I finish the first novel I will take about a month off to do two things:
1. Get everything written down in my EverNote file so that I have an amazing reference guide not only for myself but perhaps for my readers. We're talking extensive stuff here beyond what is actually written. Yes, I'm a Tolkien wannabe, but I'll be nice enough not to cloud all of you with mindless dribble in the actual story because, well, you won't need it. My main focus in WISB is the characters and how they interact and develop in this fantastic and altogether unimaginably bizarre world.
2. Prepare to write book two, which is tentatively being called "The Spellweaver of Dern". I'm not sure why, but I thought of that title and long time ago and it just stuck. I think originally I had intended it to be some sort of offshoot series of WISB, but I liked the named "spellweaver" so much that I incorporated it into WISB and ultimately into this set of books (whether that be two or three in total). My goal is no more than three books right now. I don't want to have some massive series that could potentially run into time problems. But, this is all for a later discussion.
So, this is something that will be happening towards the end of summer, which would put me at about the one year mark for when I started WISB if I manage to get everything written by October. In theory I should have it all written and up on this site by August, assuming nothing horrendous goes wrong--you know, like my car explodes or something of that nature. This also assumes my family will give me the time to actually finish writing this novel without me having to explain why I need two weekends out of the month to sit down at my computer. Then again, my family is crazy and will never understand that aside from wanting to become an English teacher I also want to be a writer and doing so requires excessive amounts of time not only to read, but to write and practice the craft. This is why I started WISB in the first place--as an experiment. Fortunately, this experiment has been mildly successful from my viewpoint and therefore has been kept on for over half a year now.
Anywho, I am rambling.
More to come this weekend :P
You haven't been keeping note?! :-O I have no idea how you've got so far without them! You must have an incredibly good memory. Or WISB is really rubbish. :p I'm betting on the former ...
ReplyDeleteWell I don't think WISB is rubbish. It's not entirely perfect and I have found mistakes that I made later on that I went back and fixed.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you all should read it and tell me if it is rubbish :P. Especially you Lindsey, since you come from the country of some of the best literature in the world! :P
Keeping notes, especially for complex original worlds, is a good idea. Especially when writing sequels, because there's all sorts of history and such that you might forget. Critics love to find inconsistencies, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteWhile you're writing down notes, you could also take the chance to write down other stuff that you might expand on later. ;)
Agreed Andrew. I personally don't care what critics say. I love constructive criticism though. If a fan or a reader or just about anyone finds something that doesn't seem right and tells me I appreciate it completely. It allows me to go back and fix it. One of my goals is to make WISB publishable, or at least to 'publishing' standard. It may never see a major publisher, but I'd like to give it a shot.
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