The next one, was of course, The Book of Gates, my twelve part series following Alane and various other characters. It is, in a word, epic. I have been trying to write it for years. Unfortunately, I seem to be a bit daunted by the idea of twelve books to write in a series. I have decided, for my own sake, that if I were to ever try and publish tBoG (hee, t-bog), I would have to write all 12 books before sending out the first one. Mostly because they are complex in terms of their scope, and some things have not yet been planned, and there are arcs, and mini-arcs and over arching arcs, and I want to make sure they all fit together, and come to a satisfying conclusion, so as to avoid the third book slump that seems to happen with quite a few trilogies, and several series (not that it occurs in the third book, its just it happens in trilogies a lot, so I call it that). Anyways. Its a labor of love, and I think I may have to snowflake it, just to try and get a grasp on what I'm writing towards in the first book.
So then I threw my hands up and went and watched Treasure Planet, which, dudes, seriously underrated film. It came out in an over saturated market, and was marketed towards the wrong crowd, which is why people think its not as great as it is, but having watched it nine years later, I've got to say it was impressive. Anyways, so I watched it with the intent of coming up with a novel idea from it. And I did.
I'm not ripping off Treasure Planet, but the initial spark was -- treasure seekers. In the movie, the characters are motivated by the idea of gold, but this is me, so treasure automatically means knowledge to me. Anyways, I was thinking about motivations, and the need for money, and how Harry Potter works, with a trio and the power of friendship (which is to say, OT3?), and I came up with this orphan character who was left at a Space Port and is therefore always looking for money.
And when I started writing it, you know the strangest thing happened. 1. Caroline, my main character, decided to be written in present tense. 2. She decided that she was telling the story, and so it had to be first person.
Most people say first person is an easy tense to write in. I could not agree any less. I hate writing in first person. Mostly because I end up starting a lot of sentences with "I did this" and I find it incredibly difficult to vary my sentence structures in first person. Third feels more natural to me -- I have written in third person limited for most of my novels.
But I was thinking about this, and how my last novel was third-limited to one person -- another first for me, usually I jump around in about five people's heads (oh yes, I am terribly good at finding four people I want to write with, and then discovering I need a fifth voice) -- and it was incredibly interesting to see what it forced the characters to do. So with this in mind, I decided to let Caroline have her way. Who knew, maybe first person, present tense would work for me.
The beginning is rough. I always try and start with some sort of action -- whether it be speech, or something important about to happen -- because it means I have to keep going. If I start with description, I'm bogging myself down in unnecessary backstory. Action requires my pen (fingers, I usually type) to move. In this novel what ended up happening was a lot of "I ran. I looked around. I slid on my knees towards. ect." I hated it. I wanted to get out of it so badly. Often I would find myself trying things like "She did this," before realizing I was referring to Caroline, and having to delete it. I also have many, many problems with the tense. I have written "said" instead of "says" so many times, I am shocked when I manage to type "says" first.
But something funny happened around 7,000 words. I stopped noticing. I got into the story. I found Caroline's voice, while slightly annoying, and things began to happen.
I've got to say, there are some brilliant bits to writing in first person, present tense. For example -- I know as much as Caroline about what's going to happen and I DON'T NEED TO KNOW! I usually write towards something, it helps, and with third person, past, you have to know where you are going so you can have the write thoughts cross character's minds. With first person, present, you can guess where you're going, but the story can accommodate all sorts of things, and you feel much more connected to the character.
No, I am not in love with first person present, I don't think I'll stick with it forever. But for this story, which is teetering between sci-fi and fantasy, where I don't know what the end is going to be, its perfect.
Anyways, I'm 11,000 words in, and I have 9 days to finish this novel. Oh, would you look at that? Another 9 day novel?
Except it won't be. I don't have the pressure to finish the novel like I did with 9 day, just to get to 50,000 words. :D
OH AND CHECK OUT FIREBIRD ON BLOGGER. We're mirroring it on blogger and on LiveJournal because Josh doesn't have the same experience on LJ as me. I prefer LJ, to be honest. BUT IT WILL BE UP ON BOTH SO CHECK IT OUT.
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