Beginning Again

Months ago my buddy Jason King posted on Facebook that he's now scouting manuscripts for his publisher. Ever since then it has been weighing on my mind to start writing an actual story after years and years of primarily world building.

Many other things happened in the months that followed. My family grew by my first child. My wife suffered near fatal complications and spent most of a month in the hospital. Work continued its hectic pace. I took an ill-attempted shot at launching a website. Then the holidays and year's end were upon us. There was a lot to distract me from writing. 

When I could finally focus on telling a tale I didn't have a clear idea of who, what, where, when, how, and why. The building blocks of any writing!

I began outlining a chronological story set in one world...and fizzled. I fell into reviewing old notes, ideas, posts, etc. to get my mind in gear. This only served to overwhelm me and drive me into a lackluster funk of creating nothing at all. My subconscious churned and milled with self-loathing, criticism, and wondering if I ought to just scrap it all and grow up. Stop trying to make myself be a writer and focus on just being a father.

Then I found my imagination waking me up at 4:30 this morning with the introduction and first chapter practically writing themselves!

I've posted before about where to start (literally, which world to use as the setting) and which character(s) to focus on. After settling on where and who, it became of question of "when?" Do I tale the tell in the present, or a thousand years earlier?

After discussing it with other writer friends and thinking aloud what would make the best intro, I decided to begin at the beginning. With the creation of the world itself. The birth of, and battle between gods, that made the world what it is. Then the story jumps ages forward to the adventure of the main character, his life as it unfolds, which sets up the founding and fall of a kingdom. The blood of kings is spilled, yet lives on. An empire is founded from the devastation and ashes. Jump again. The empire is crumbling. There is barely a shadow of the grandeur that once gave purpose and pride to the people. The king of legend lies entombed under a mountain. Old threats rise again. New invaders darken the horizon. What happens next? Well, that's the bit where I keep writing and perhaps end this year with manuscript ready to submit.

I believe that my blog presence and posting will decrease significantly as I move onward and upward with other projects.