FFC #87 - The Dilmir Plan

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #87

If you've been following the thread for my Dilmir repost, you might have noticed that I have continued my dubious habit of informing you the moment there is any change of plans, only to go back on/change said plans the next day. I've tried to cut back on that in the past few days until I'm sure of what's going on, which brings me to now. Things are fairly well locked in, so it's time to update you on the newest plan regarding Dilmir.

For those of you who have long since learned to ignore anything I say (but are somehow inexplicably reading this), Dilmir is a story I wrote back in 2013. It was set in Feylund, and centered around elves and magic, with a good smattering of vampires. I wrote two sequels to that story. Together, the trilogy is referred to as the Feylund Series or the Dilmir series. For the sake of clarity in this FFC, I'll just call them the Originals.

Due to perceived thematic issues with the originals, I deleted them from the forums a few years after posting them. Ever since then, I've gone back and forth on if it was the right call. In 2019, I finally decided that I could at least repost the first of the Originals: Dilmir. At the time, I said I'd have to look at the two sequels further before I decided if I could repost them or not.

I decided that while I could not repost the sequels, I could rewrite Dilmir, in an attempt to make it better. The readers of Dilmir were on board with the idea, so I began developing that story, which I'll refer to as the Rewrite.

The Rewrite quickly took on a mind of its own. I have now finished the development for it, and at this point, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Dilmir. It is a completely different and separate story. The most you could say is that it takes place in some alternate history of Feylund.

Now, while I was working on the development for the Rewrite, I was examining the rest of the Originals trilogy - the two sequels I never reposted. I was initially trying to research some aspect of writing, but I got caught up in the story, and quickly came to a realization: with some alterations, I could easily post them. What I was reading was actually really good - way better than I remember it being - and there was very little reason to keep it collecting dust on my hard drive.

To repost the rest of the Original Series, I would have to do some edits to the second story. These wouldn't take long. The third story would need to be rewritten, but it would be able to use a lot of the development and plot already there. Additionally, rewriting the third story would give me opportunity to test out some further writing theories - theories which dearly need testing.

So this is the current plan: I'm ready to start writing the Rewrite, and will probably begin tomorrow. The story is once again shorter than I would like (but I finally know why), probably around fourteen chapters. It won't take too long to write.

When I start posting the Rewrite, I'm going to start the edits on the sequel to Dilmir. By the time I'm done posting the Rewrite, the sequel should be ready to go. Once I start posting that, I'll begin work on the third and final book in the Original Series.

So this means you are going to see a 'Rewrite' - which is basically a story in an alternate reality Feylund - plus the two sequels to Dilmir, in edited form. However, because I'm doing this, and because I don't want to cause confusion between the Originals and the Rewrite (both for readers and for myself), I will be changing the names in the Rewrite. Originally, being a Rewrite, the story was going to feature Dilmir and Ilrin. At this point, the characters are completely different people from who they are in the Originals, and calling them by the same names could get confusing (again, for myself as well as readers). For this reason, the Rewrite will be changing the names of the main characters.

As far as timing goes, I anticipate getting through the Rewrite pretty quickly. It shouldn't take more than 2-3 weeks to write, if that. The first of the Original sequels also won't take very long, while the final Original sequel will take a little while to redo.

Until then, keep reading, keep writing, and keep fantasy alive!

~TGRF.

P.S. Note that when I say I'm going to 'rewrite' the final Original Dilmir sequel, this will be a true rewrite. It will use the same plot and almost all of the same development.