Like any great expedition, the start of a new book is an exciting time. Everything is full of hope and opportunity! Who knows where this story will take us!?
Certainly not me.
I mean, I have a rough idea. I have the skeleton of an outline, the framework upon which the rest of the story will hang. I used to not even do this… I would just embark in a direction and see where I ended up. But I have learned that this is a “bad idea” when I write… I like my endings to be Sudden But Inevitable, and in order for those to land you kinda need to telegraph key moments. And in order to do that you need to do some planning.
Not a lot. I name characters and locations, but I’ll still discover elements of each of those as we go. I’ll redefine aspects of everyone, of the technology and the conflict and the universe, on the fly.
Which is why I’m always so excited as those first few words, which soon become the first few thousand words, flow out onto the page. There’s still so much potential! Can’t wait to see where this one will take us… I’m calling this story “The Trojan Stars” for now, despite that being a bad name for a myriad of reasons, it makes sense thematically. It’s all about… well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!