General Update on Everything

Well, 2013 Nanowrimo was the first one I actually "failed." I got about 6000 words into Cosmic Potato and then wandered off. It was a pretty good start though, with a fair bit of setting establishment, and then they started their sea voyage. Seems promising as a future project that I don't know when I'll get back to. Maybe 2014 Nanowrimo?

The root issue with all Nanowrimos is still the same - I don't really want to start any new gigantic projects when I haven't finished the ones that are already in progress. In particular, Fortress Launne is still at the beginning of second draft stage.

Fortunately, Camp Nanowrimo doesn't have the same strictness about having to start brand new stories from scratch. I'm signed up for July 2014, and my declared project is revision for Fortress Launne. I suspect that for the next few years, I'm going to spend every summer doing one of these Camps so I can revise or continue previous projects.

So far I've been compiling all the first drafts of everything from 2004-2010 into one big Scrivener file. It's been an interesting read, and it turns out to be true what everyone says, about getting some distance between writing and editing. In my case, because I have too good of a memory, 3.5 years was how long it took before I had enough distance.

There is a LOT of well-written stuff in there that I can use with only minor edits. The first 20k words of Edward can pretty much stay exactly like it is now - all those failed earlier attempts worked out on that front, because the last version is all exactly right.

A whole lot of Triangle I can too, though all the parts with Antoine in them need rethinking. For that matter, a lot of the parts with Antoine in Amulet II do too. Basically it boils down to a lack of proper motivation for him to do any of the key plot-driving actions that he's supposed to be in the stories for. And now that I think of it, that's essentially the problem with Felicia in Temple also. I might have to do some more thinking on all of the mages, what their organization is like, what their goals are, etc.

The other overall big issue is that in basically every story, everything is only told about halfway through and then it just stops. As I was writing them, things would grind to a halt under the weight of "not quite right" and "not going in the right direction" - and so shortly after 50k words, I'd stop so I could figure out what I was really trying to do. And then of course never get back to it. So a lot of the actual revision work will be writing the other half of everything.

I've also noticed that Amulet I is not actually where Fortress Launne starts. The actual city started in Triangle I - when Nathaniel is laying down the binding spell, which takes up about half the plot. It's Aliacorba's storyline that started in Amulet I. Also, the other end of the story of the city is in Myan - when the binding spell falls. Likewise, Aliacorba's story begins in Amulet I and ends in Temple, with the climax portion in the middle of Triangle II. I'm beginning to think there needs to be another short story in between Amulet I and Triangle I that talks about the actual demon, because so far there's a lot of references to him throughout the series, and the battle that Nathaniel won, but that part has never been on stage anywhere. Since I've recently rediscovered that Chance has been researching this demon for a while now (as mentioned in Myan), I might have to write something about it that focuses around Chance.

Meanwhile, there's a whole separate story about the Duchenes that ... well, I wouldn't say that it ends in Amulet I at the moment, but it very well could. Depending on when (whether?) I go back to write the part about where Lucien is from, which would be my Emerald Sword story that I only got 6 chapters into during one of the Labor Day novel attempts. But that's a whole separate side project. There is also Arthur Glorian to consider; if the Emerald Sword story is effectively the beginning of the Duchene storyline, then the end is in the gleam-in-my-eye premise where Janis and Arthur, far in the future after Fortress Launne ends, have to face the unraveling of reality.

The more I dig up about this story, the more there turns out to be, growing in both directions. It just never ends.

I guess I need to stop thinking about the enormity of it all and just get the first drafts compiled, and then figure out where I want to start. "Anywhere" I'm sure. The way I figure it, I should try to be chronological, at least as I get started, since all the later parts have to refer to the earlier parts, and it would be good for the earlier parts to be established properly first. I'm thinking detailed work on Triangle I might be the best bet, especially if it turns out I'm still stuck on how to write the middle and end parts of Amulet I. Which is basically where I ground to a halt three years ago.