TGRF's Writing Updates - June
This last month seems to have been quite full, and consequently gone by rather slowly. For once, I have an update in every aspect of my writing, so let's get to it.
Fan Fiction
About midway through this month, I was overcome with a surge of interest for fan fiction, and a sequel to DoD in particular. I've mentioned my ideas on this before, but this time the interest was so high that I very nearly updated my signature to say 'development underway' again.
I've always wanted to write a chronicle of the war on Valhalla, almost like a running serial of sorts. That was originally my plan when I started my tale of Utgar. That of course never panned out, and Taelord took over as the main character in DoD.
Any sequel would likely continue with Taelord as the main character, rather than following a rapidly ballooning cast wading through a plethora of battles. I still like the idea of a chronicle serial, but to be realistic, I will probably never write it.
Back to Taelord. Up until now, I haven't had a very good idea of what Taelord's journey would be in a sequel. Bits and pieces were there, along with ideas for Utgar and Runa, but they weren't complete. In the middle of June, they completed.
There is now an absolute bare-bones outline of Taelord's arc. Arcs for Utgar and Runa remain a bit hazy, and any other characters which might show up (I'm trying desperately to get Cyprien involved somehow) are complete unknowns at this time.
But there IS an outline of sorts, and it IS complete. And for a few days, I was developing the story. That is, until interest returned to:
Novels
My novels (referred to in the plural because they are a series of three) are in a tricky place. They have a theme, and the theme is completely reliant on the magic system to be shown. As a result, the magic system has to be 100% perfect. Magic for my novels has gone through tons of iterations, and about half way through June, I decided what I had been working with wasn't good enough, and needed a new iteration. That of course redefined the world, which in turn wiped out the entire plot and meant I had to restart.
This is a good thing. There were some significant issues with both the magic system and the world, and the plot for the first book felt kind of lackluster. So I took a few days to focus on fan fiction, and then returned to worldbuilding (helped, as ever, by ChatGPT).
Now I'm back with a new and improved magic system, a world which actually feels like fantasy, and a plot which will hopefully be better for it. I'm still in the worldbuilding phase - I need to know a bit more about the civilization and society before I can work out motivations and such. It's plugging along, but may once again be interrupted by:
The Future
Yes, it has finally happened. I got a job. Not only that, it's actually the dental job I wanted, and happens to be super close to where I live. The only downside are the hours.
For a job, the hours are great. But they do take up the entire day four days a week, which will impact my ability to write significantly. This may be a good thing though, as it will prevent me from burning out on writing, and possibly give me time to consider things before I put them to paper.
As always, time will tell. The job begins Monday, so by this time next month, I should know pretty well how it will effect my writing.
Meanwhile, can you expect to see a DoD sequel in the future? That remains unknown. It is certainly within the realm of possibility, now that I know the basic outline. A lot of questions still need to be answered about how things unfold, but the structure is there. The main barrier at this point is time and interest. I will likely want to devote what time I have to my novels, which means the only way fan fiction will get done is if I need to take a break from my novels. Which can certainly happen.
At this time, I'm making no plans to progress on fan fiction, but I am not discounting it. I'll know more next month.
Until then though, keep reading.
~TGRF.
This last month seems to have been quite full, and consequently gone by rather slowly. For once, I have an update in every aspect of my writing, so let's get to it.
Fan Fiction
About midway through this month, I was overcome with a surge of interest for fan fiction, and a sequel to DoD in particular. I've mentioned my ideas on this before, but this time the interest was so high that I very nearly updated my signature to say 'development underway' again.
I've always wanted to write a chronicle of the war on Valhalla, almost like a running serial of sorts. That was originally my plan when I started my tale of Utgar. That of course never panned out, and Taelord took over as the main character in DoD.
Any sequel would likely continue with Taelord as the main character, rather than following a rapidly ballooning cast wading through a plethora of battles. I still like the idea of a chronicle serial, but to be realistic, I will probably never write it.
Back to Taelord. Up until now, I haven't had a very good idea of what Taelord's journey would be in a sequel. Bits and pieces were there, along with ideas for Utgar and Runa, but they weren't complete. In the middle of June, they completed.
There is now an absolute bare-bones outline of Taelord's arc. Arcs for Utgar and Runa remain a bit hazy, and any other characters which might show up (I'm trying desperately to get Cyprien involved somehow) are complete unknowns at this time.
But there IS an outline of sorts, and it IS complete. And for a few days, I was developing the story. That is, until interest returned to:
Novels
My novels (referred to in the plural because they are a series of three) are in a tricky place. They have a theme, and the theme is completely reliant on the magic system to be shown. As a result, the magic system has to be 100% perfect. Magic for my novels has gone through tons of iterations, and about half way through June, I decided what I had been working with wasn't good enough, and needed a new iteration. That of course redefined the world, which in turn wiped out the entire plot and meant I had to restart.
This is a good thing. There were some significant issues with both the magic system and the world, and the plot for the first book felt kind of lackluster. So I took a few days to focus on fan fiction, and then returned to worldbuilding (helped, as ever, by ChatGPT).
Now I'm back with a new and improved magic system, a world which actually feels like fantasy, and a plot which will hopefully be better for it. I'm still in the worldbuilding phase - I need to know a bit more about the civilization and society before I can work out motivations and such. It's plugging along, but may once again be interrupted by:
The Future
Yes, it has finally happened. I got a job. Not only that, it's actually the dental job I wanted, and happens to be super close to where I live. The only downside are the hours.
For a job, the hours are great. But they do take up the entire day four days a week, which will impact my ability to write significantly. This may be a good thing though, as it will prevent me from burning out on writing, and possibly give me time to consider things before I put them to paper.
As always, time will tell. The job begins Monday, so by this time next month, I should know pretty well how it will effect my writing.
Meanwhile, can you expect to see a DoD sequel in the future? That remains unknown. It is certainly within the realm of possibility, now that I know the basic outline. A lot of questions still need to be answered about how things unfold, but the structure is there. The main barrier at this point is time and interest. I will likely want to devote what time I have to my novels, which means the only way fan fiction will get done is if I need to take a break from my novels. Which can certainly happen.
At this time, I'm making no plans to progress on fan fiction, but I am not discounting it. I'll know more next month.
Until then though, keep reading.
~TGRF.
