“Rising on tiptoe, arms stretched upward, a quivering line of naked white, she cried to the desperate horde: ‘Wolves of the blue sea, behold ye now the dance — the mating-dance of Bêlit, whose fathers were kings of Askalon!’ And she danced, like the spin of a desert whirlwind, like the leaping of a quenchless flame, like the urge of creation and the urge of death. Her white feet spurned the blood-stained deck and dying men forgot death as they gazed frozen at her.”
(excerpt from, Queen of the Black Coast, by Robert E. Howard)
My First Month’s Assessment
Spring is here and I am excited about the next round of ROW80. As many of you know, I came late to the current 80-day round and have been using this preliminary time to prepare for the next round in April. So far this month my preparation has gone decently well, although I always feel like I can never get all the things I want to accomplish in a day done. My goal for the month of March was to take my previous NaNoWriMo world-building project and to extract all of the “good stuff” out of it so that it can be organized in a new world-building project. This part of the preliminary preparation took a little longer than I had anticipated because my NaNoWriMo manuscript was choke-full of nonsensical “word-sprints” and rambling “stream-of-consciousness” diatribes. Fortunately now, my new world-building project is far more organized and succinct. My story-world is still very raw and vague, but I figure that if I work on it on a consistent basis, characters and places and possible stories will all become more specific. Like a painter, I’m just making broad-strokes right now so that I can come back later to add the fine details.
The Dreaded World-Builder’s Disease
One of the joys of being a writer in the fantasy (and science fiction) genre is that we get to create a unique fantastical world as a backdrop for our stories, allowing the reader to escape into his imagination and imagine places and civilizations never before seen. This joy of world-building, however, can also be a burden if the writer isn’t careful. Many of the world-building articles that I have been reading have warned against (the dreaded) world-builder’s disease, in which the author spends too much time on the world-building process and not enough time on actually writing stories from that world. J.R.R Tolkien was a notorious sufferer of world-builder's disease, taking over twelve years to establish Middle-Earth. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he took the time to develop such a wonderful fantasy-world, with all it’s rich history and languages and such, but he only wrote a few books using that world and I wonder if he could have written more stories if he hadn’t been struck with world-builder’s disease. For me, I am trying to find that balance. I can’t lose sight of the fact that I am creating the world so that I can write stories within that world, not just to create the world. Creating the world and writing from that world have to be done in tandem.
Goals for Round 2 of ROW80
With only fifteen days left until the start of the second round, I have decided to write a 60,000 word first-draft novel. This will be my first attempt at actually writing a complete story from beginning to end (my NaNoWriMo manuscript was a world-building project, not a novel-writing project). I am both excited and anxious about this challenge. I have been perusing all my story ideas lately, looking for something that I want to write. I have a few ideas from which to choose, but these ideas need a lot of work if they are to become a story. That’s why I have switched my focus away from the world-building for now and have been focusing my energy on studying story structure and plot outlines. So far, I have narrowed my possible stories down to a few candidates and I will spend the next couple of weeks attempting to outline these potential stories so that I can choose the best one for April. I will be updating that process here leading up to the second round. Stay tuned…
UPDATE: Okay, now I’m just as crazy as the rest of you writing-challenge junkies out there (you know who you are). I just signed up or Camp NaNoWriMo.
Here’s the link to My Camper Profile if you want to follow my progress there.
Please visit some of the other writers in the ROW80 Community…
Sounds like you're well prepared, John. Drafting a new story is always exciting!
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited about starting this next round of writing. I still have a lot of outlining and plotting to do in the next couple of weeks, but I feel good about where my story is headed.
DeleteSounds like you're doing a good job with the prep. ;) Good luck on Round 2 and your new novel.
ReplyDeleteBeing a "classic plotter", I never feel completely prepared. Hopefully all this preparation will make the late-night writing flow smoothly.
DeleteWorld building is such fun, creating your own little verse to play in :) I'll be doing Camp NaNo too. Good luck see you in the next round!
ReplyDeleteMy world-building project has really been a blast to create! But now it's time to fill that world with stories. I'm also thinking about doing Camp NaNo (thanks to your blog post). Knowing that the word count is flexible and personal made me lean in that direction. Thanks for the information and encouragement.
DeleteHi John, I have often thought about exporting my characters into another setting and making massive changes to the world, but the amount of work leaves me lingering in consideration mode, as opposed to action! Good on you for taking on the task, it's big! My world has a huge glossary and a great deal of explanation, it's no small undertaking and I had to write a quick companion guide - which is not easy to do as spoilers are easy to fall into. :-)
ReplyDeleteAs for the world building disease, sometimes, I find novels like that very relaxing. Perhaps it is a matter of balance and each to his own? I don't mind a story which ambles a little.
Thanks for sharing your journey with us. I will be interested to see how it unfolds.
Thanks for taking an interest in my journey. I also enjoy stories that meander a bit, especially when they can paint a more vivid picture of the story-world. I think that a little history and lore adds an extra layer of realism and authenticity to the world, especially when the author can season them into the story skillfully. My world will probably take a few years to fully develop, but that’s okay, it’ll be worth it in the long-run. All of my future stories will flow from this world.
DeleteMany of the most significant factors in my story worlds come from the actual writing...and, as for those writing sprints and stream-of-consciousness pieces - I thrive on them! Often, I find that they breathe on their own, and only need a little sprucing up to shine...
ReplyDeleteI used to not plot anything - but then, I spent 38K one NaNo trying to find the story. I've been revising it for a while, now, with a long way left to go...
Now, I use Rock Your Plot and Rock Your Revision. Each cost $2.99 for my Kindle, and the way the system is set up is perfectly suited for the way my mind works. I think that's the key, really - knowing enough about how we tick to judge what will really shift our minds into that creative place, and keep them there...
I'm signed on for CampNaNo with a 60K word count, too - I plan to write two novellas from a series idea that was born during last year's A-Z Challenge. It's a contemporary fantasy world, and I've never attempted novellas, so it's exciting. I'm wrapping up planning for Book One, and might even be able to finish plotting Book Two before the month starts. I'm excited by the new challenge. I'll pop on by and say hello to you there a little later in the day. =)
I wouldn’t mind “stream-of-consciousness” exercises so much if the writing stayed focused on my story-world, but for me, they always seem to veer off into the realm of my Inner-Editor. My “word-sprints” are usually just mad-dashes 'til the stroke of midnight (we’ve all been there, right?)
DeleteThank you for recommending the plotting book. It’s exactly what I was looking for. All of my potential story-candidates for Camp NaNo either have major plot holes that need filling, or aren’t developed enough to carry a full month’s worth of writing. This book will help me solve that. I too have been thinking about doing a few short-stories or novellas instead of just one novel. My writing mood has been fluctuating and alternating between three of my story-candidates (my Muse is capricious).
I’ll see you around the Camp NaNo campfire…
Haha, now we've got you. So glad to have you in our cabin. I love the world building thing. I made a huge world, populated it with cities, even made the layouts of the cities and their histories. Then started the D&D 3.5 campaign with my friends. It's not quite the same because the big things like magical systems have already been worked out, but so much fun. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteYep, I walked right into your trap; ensnared in the web of your diabolical plan. A cabin full of campers, isolated in the deep dark woods for a full month; sounds like the beginnings of a every 1980's slasher-horror movie plot. What could possibly go wrong?
DeleteI loved playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons as a kid. I too would draw up maps and dungeons and quest campaigns. I still throw a twenty-sided dice every once in awhile when I need to make an important life decision. :)
Alas, I am already quite busy and will not be participating. But, will cheer the lot of you on. I have Blogging from A to Z, NaPoWriMo, my regualar ROW and No-ROW8 projects, and my theatre projects.
ReplyDeleteWhen I tried writing my fantasy series, I caught caught up in my world building too. I keep hoping that I will return and actually write the story (since the world is mostly formed). We will see! :-) Have a great week!
Thanks for the encouragement. It looks like you have plenty to keep you occupied as well. I wish you the best as well this next round of ROW80. I hope you can find time soon to return to the fantasy-world you have created, especially since you have it nearly formed (your characters await new adventures upon your return).
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