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Starting a new book is sooooo hard
Jul. 10th, 2009 12:18 amIt's just like learning a new language. You feel so good because you can finally converse in Spanish, and then you up and marry some Germanophile and realize that you are actually indeed as dumb and new as you feared. Or like when you bring home baby #2, and everyone in the hospital expects you know everything now, because after all, you've already done this once. Riiiiight.
Well, you have to jump in sometime. Iwasted spent the afternoon looking for names because I just can't write about someone who doesn't even have a name. I still don't have a firm grip on that yet. But I did eek out 300 words. Uh, yay?
I do want a clean break from my last book, which was contemporary, sweaty high school football players. So I thought I'd you know, bring in a little estrogen with princesses. And maybe flying unicorns. (Or maybe not.)
The thing is, I really LIKE books that feel like they're happening right now. Even if it's a long time ago in a kingdom at least 6000 miles away. I actually don't like the kind of book that keeps reminding you that it's a story, or a retelling, or whatever. (This is not a retelling, BTW.) Even in very imaginary fantasy, I want to make it real. Which means I'll need to discover what real-person fears and hopes and arcs my characters have. And make them feel "modern" (in their eyes), despite the time period. (Don't know if I can explain that, but Elizabeth Marie Pope does a great job of making Elizabethan England feel modern in Perilous Gard, just as Sharan Newman makes the 1100s feel modern in her Catherine Levendeur series--both without being anachronistic or slipping 21st-century thought patterns into the past.)
Thinking. Thinking is good. Must keep thinking about this new book. Because I am actually dying to send Anubis out into the world, and I know I really do need to wait for the rest of my crits to come home. Let it sit. Shooting things out too soon isn't good for anyone. Is it?
300 words in. Only 60,700 more to go, and I can repeat the whole process. Someone had a sense of humor when they bestowed the writing thing on me, because they knew patience wasn't my thing, huh?
Well, you have to jump in sometime. I
I do want a clean break from my last book, which was contemporary, sweaty high school football players. So I thought I'd you know, bring in a little estrogen with princesses. And maybe flying unicorns. (Or maybe not.)
The thing is, I really LIKE books that feel like they're happening right now. Even if it's a long time ago in a kingdom at least 6000 miles away. I actually don't like the kind of book that keeps reminding you that it's a story, or a retelling, or whatever. (This is not a retelling, BTW.) Even in very imaginary fantasy, I want to make it real. Which means I'll need to discover what real-person fears and hopes and arcs my characters have. And make them feel "modern" (in their eyes), despite the time period. (Don't know if I can explain that, but Elizabeth Marie Pope does a great job of making Elizabethan England feel modern in Perilous Gard, just as Sharan Newman makes the 1100s feel modern in her Catherine Levendeur series--both without being anachronistic or slipping 21st-century thought patterns into the past.)
Thinking. Thinking is good. Must keep thinking about this new book. Because I am actually dying to send Anubis out into the world, and I know I really do need to wait for the rest of my crits to come home. Let it sit. Shooting things out too soon isn't good for anyone. Is it?
300 words in. Only 60,700 more to go, and I can repeat the whole process. Someone had a sense of humor when they bestowed the writing thing on me, because they knew patience wasn't my thing, huh?
