There is a hefty amount of irony in breaking a fast of nearly a year of blog posts to post about how I’m actually writing again. I mean, shouldn’t I be writing that instead? But that’s not right. Is it? Certainly by being here I’m not subtracting, and time I spend here talking about my writing might be great as breadcrumbs.
Anyway, I’m getting my head around a story that really grew in telling. It has to do with maybe my most troped character, a doomed character named Coda, who is destined to die nine times before ascending to the plane of dragons to become one and never returning to Adana again. So chosen one, fated hero. et cetera. He’s a bit of a hippy, an adventurer, a decidedly uninspired student of magic, and a good friend.
Coda’s story envelopes the other stories of Adana. The main story I’m setting in Adana is a horror portal story, but there are at least 3 other main stories intertwined. The main story features Andy Jones and his mad family and the story of Delilah and the monster Iskof. Another story features Slick Wimpy, who is destined for blind greatness. Still another story features Dilya, a by-blow of the wizard Jalakaja and witch Jari. There is one other angle of the story which will only be revealed at the end.
I started Coda’s story in November of 2017 and wrote most of a rough draft of his first book. There are whole sections I skipped at the end, but no real surprises. Needs shaping, but I postponed it for a while. In November 2019 I laid out another story of Coda involving the demon Delix, but it never really came together. I finished the rough draft of Delilah’s book instead in Fall 2018 and Fall 2019. In Fall of 2020, though, I wrote about half of Coda’s homecoming story, the second part of what might become a duology origin story for the bard, but I burned out during covid. Last year I worked on a work-in-progress with Denise instead, but since about March or so, I’ve returned to work on Coda’s tale.
It’s not done, but at least I see the way to the end now, and I know what I’m writing about more than ever, so it shouldn’t be long. Once I finish I can start to write Delilah’s volume 2 during NaNoWriMo. I already have it mapped out. I also have Camel set up by the second part of Coda’s story. Altogether this section is about 123000 words, more than twice the size of the draft of the first book, but it’s written at the correct granularity. Also, the relationships and the writing in general is just much, much better. I’m going to enjoy editing this story when it’s time.
My major issue again is the languages. My program is coming along, but I need to fill out some of the history, especially in Fiper and Forping. On the other hand, I am so happy with Coda’s two stories, I see no need to write the middle section, so that makes everything easier.
That’s about it for now! Happy Trails!