Well, after forgetting to post an update last week (oops!) I’m back at it again this week.
As was maybe predictable, my little vacation hasn’t been the most productive time. It’s hard to keep a consistent work ethic when you’re back home visiting people. But part of the problem has less to do with my work ethic and more to do with the enormity of the task I’ve given myself.
Yes, in case you hadn’t guessed, that means Usi book 1 has still been giving me trouble.
As I believe I’ve said before, I’ve never attempted an epic fantasy before. Xerinia – where all this takes place – is a big, complicated world, and I want to make sure it feels lived in. This, of course, means making sure all the little idiosyncrasies of the world line up: the political system, the magic system, the cultural landscape, and so on. Creating a world is easy: creating a world that actually makes sense and doesn’t run afoul of readers’ suspension of disbelief is hard. And I’ve been struggling with the worldbuilding as I try to make my way through this first Usi book.
Of course, it’s not just the setting. The plot has got me in knots, too. I know where I want to start: the inciting incident is very clear. It’s what comes after that that’s been tripping me up. I wrote four or five chapters after the first two introducing a whole bunch of characters, races, settings and so on that’ll be important throughout the rest of the series, but looking at what I’ve written now, those 4-5 chapters almost feel like a side quest. They don’t feel like they’re directly dealing with Zuza’s main goal: they’re more a detour than anything. The good news is that I managed to write an outline a few days ago, and in this outline I repurposed these chapters for later in the book…so we’ll see how that works out.
Honestly, I just need to get into a groove. My little vacation ends on the 30th: once I’m back home, it might be easier to keep up the writing habit, keep chipping away at the story until it gets a little easier. The beginning usually takes the longest when I write, anyway: once the action starts rising, and I get closer and closer to the climax, I tend to write faster, and more easily.
I also need to avoid the trap that many writers fall into: trying to make their first drafts too perfect. Instead, I should remember one of the most important writing rules: finish what you write. Honestly, my first priority should be getting this thing done. Then, after I have a draft, I can go back and start looking at fleshing things out, making sure everything makes sense, and so on. It’s possible I’ve gotten too much in my own head with Zuza’s story: I should just sit back, let the narrative flow, and then fix whatever problems arise once I’m through draft one and have given it a few months to sit.
I haven’t made much progress on my other projects. I did a little bit of worldbuilding work for Blueblood, which should help once I eventually sit down to start that one. I’ve also been chipping away on the first edit for The Ravage: I’m almost halfway through the draft now, and at this point, I’m fairly happy with it. I think one run-through should be good before I show it to beta readers: then, of course, I’ll take whatever feedback I get from the beta readers and do one or two more drafts before (hopefully) hiring a pro editor to help refine it even further.
But…yeah. Apart from all that, not much to report. Hopefully this week, after I get back home, I can get back on track with my actual writing. It’d be nice to have something to tell you guys other than “didn’t make much progress, still struggling with worldbuilding.” I’m considering doing another set of mini book reviews next week instead of a writing update: that’ll give me two weeks’ worth of progress to talk about on May 12, which (again, assuming all goes well) would give me more substantial stuff to discuss.
Anyway, that’s goanna be it for today. Until next time, have fun, stay safe and keep reading.
