April of 2021 came around I was still working on "Through the Eyes of Babes" and the supposed side story. It seemed like the perfect time to finish it with Camp's theme of NaNoFinMo (National Novel Finishing Month! Through the Eyes of Babes did get completed, I'm happy to say! I'll just have to wait and see what happens with that side story. In the current day, I'm trying to figure out book three, having been inclined to start that for NaNo 2023, but ugh, the work I started, I just hated. Juniper and the scenario just weren't working for me. I have other projects! We even managed to miss another lockdown (in 2021 they continued in full force!)
For July, with the second Eyes of Glass book completed and absolutely no idea where I was going to go with book 3, I turned my attention back to the world of Toserra Sorose. I'd been toying around with a second book set in their second semester at the school, but I felt as though I needed to do some world building, figure some more things out about the my characters, the races, the world (There's the Nine Realms and the Extended Planes after all), so my goal was to work on a Companion Guide and write things such as the town histories, histories of the great schools of the realms, various cultural aspects, etc. I learned a lot and maybe over complicated some things. In a lot of ways, it helped cement the additional schools that would be featured in the the upcoming book. I also toyed with more short stories about some of the characters (and upcoming characters). Keep an eye out for future blog posts that detail some of those histories or character interviews! In the middle of July, we were once again locked down (it was only for 12 days...) for our fifth lockdown and we still had one more big one to come that would start in August and finish just before NaNoWriMo started in November! I can tell you, but the end of lockdown number 6, we were well and truly over it!
I have to admit, come NaNoWriMo 2021, there were many reasons not to take part, freedom for one. Who wanted to sit at home and write when you could be out and about enjoying the world around you? People were going on holiday once more and it was possible to eat out and take a drive through the mountains. You could go to the gym, go shopping for more than an hour, but, the lure of NaNoWriMo is legitimate and I'm an old hand at writing in unusual places. I can write on my phone while waiting in line or waiting for food, waiting for the cash register, or even on the treadmill (you would be surprised just how invigorating it is to write while on the treadmill!)
Despite all the lures to take me away from my writing, there was a big one pulling me back. Saga had more stories to tell! Two in fact. My project come November was to begin book two, well, continue it. I had already started writing. I was also getting inspired once more by music. If you've had a chance to read Saga of The Wild Hunt, you might know that music is quite important, from the school song to the Flight of the Valkyrie (no, not Wagner, but a rewrite of Peter, Paul and Mary's Hush-A-Bye) so when inspiration struck in the form of Puff the Magic Dragon, what else was I to do but follow it? Saga of the Underworld, Saga of the Harp (couldn't go with this one, as no one actually plays the harp... Well, no, Jemima does, but the relevant instruments in the story are the pan flute and the balalaika), Saga of the Tournament of Souls, or whatever name it will eventually settle on was the main story, but part way through, Saga and Astrid go on vacation for the mid semester break, to the coastal town of Honah Lee, where saga get to meet her very first dragon! As much as it was a story I very much wanted to tell, and takes place in the midst of the main story, it deviated too far from the main story to be incorporated into it. The plan is to release both stories at the same time... Just as soon as I finish the Honah Lee Story. In good news though, Tournament of Souls (the most recent working title) has come back from the first round of editing!)
Comments