Okay, so I dumped my first attempt at a novel. It was a WIP about a woman obsessed with fantasy novels who is transported to a fantasy world. A neat enough premise. It was written seat of the pants style and I got about 40,000 words in and realised it wasn’t working, and I didn’t know where it was going.
WIP number 2, Lembek of the Towers, I decided to plot-plan in advance before I wrote anything. I have detailed notes on characters, setting, premise, back cover copy, and the entire opening of the novel, but no desire whatsoever to actually write it. So here I go again. Lembek of the Towers is getting put on hold. Lembek was also a neat enough premise: The son of the city’s greatest sorcerer is framed for murder and banished to the city’s slums. With every assassin in the city, and every thug in the slums, out to kill him can he survive long enough to find the real killer, prove his innocence and reclaim his rightful place in society.
The problem with both of those is that they aren’t really what I want to write and love to read. I prefer dark fantasy, low magic gritty stories of sword and sorcery, which neither of the above was. The first WIP was satire, comedic fantasy which I like well enough and do read, but don’t love. The second, Lembek, was a kind of fantasy murder mystery in a steampunk post-apocalyptic faux-Georgian setting. Again, I’d read something like that, but I don’t love that style of fantasy.
So it’s back to the drawing board for a long hard look at the type fantasy I really love and some brainstorming and this time, no matter what I’m going to start and finish my third WIP, and my first novel length work.
2 comments:
Best of luck with the third book, though the idea for the first one would be neat if you could pull it off. I like the idea of fantasy cliches being pointed out and given the satirical treatment.
Hey, Marian thanks. Although, now I'm thinking of giving the second idea a go for nanowrimo. :D
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