What do I Write Now?
It’s been a month since I’ve written….ok, over a month, five weeks to be exact. A small vacation, a victory lap to celebrate those two special words, “The End”. Words that you only get to write after the long journey from Chapter One to the very last word. This last journey only took me seven months to complete. Not as long as some stories have taken me, not as short as the one before this one. A good journey and I’m very happy with the story I told.
But for five weeks I haven’t written. For most of that time I didn’t even try. But then I did try and it seemed the universe conspired against me, keeping me AFK against my wishes. For the first few weeks that was fine. I didn’t want to jump into another story, I wasn’t looking for a rebound tale to keep me going. I was satisfied, fully sated and ready to enjoy some much earned down time.
But that was over two weeks ago. The contentment has faded and the need is growing. The need to write, to put down on paper the multitude of words congested inside my mind. Now comes the restlessness, the growing sense of discontent. And I began searching for the next story, the one that needed to be written, the one that wanted to be written.
Sometimes I know exactly which story I’m going to write. It’s already ready and waiting when I write those last two words. The moment “The End” is written the new story is ready to go, the words already lined up for me and I am merely their scribe.
Not this time. This time the story remains elusive, even as the need to write grows, making me more edgy and itchy inside.
I thought I could simply step back into the world of the ShadowGate, begin book five. After all it’s already plotted, scene by scene. I know the characters by heart. I love all them and would love to spend some more time in their world. But the words aren’t there. I can’t find Nomad’s voice, or Becca’s motivation and so book five, DownCast Angel, remains unwritten.
What book then? Which world do I step inside? Do I skip ahead in the series? Jump to book six? Do I finally unearth Revelation and write it at long last? Or do I do what I always do? Open up the folder that holds all the beginnings, all those partially written stories that were rebounds, the never held me long enough to reach the end. Will this be their time? Is it time to finally finish one of them?
Where do I want to journey this time? Into the past? Into the future? Do I want fantasy or realism? Do I go back and finish the nightmare inspired “The Tower”? Do I begin the Sun God Trilogy?
Or will I finally finish “Confess”?
We’ll see…
Until next time,
L