Happy New Year, and welcome to this glimpse into my writing journey. My New Year’s Resolution this year is to keep you all better informed about my progress, and hopefully share some interesting information along the way.
So without further ado…
Embarking on this Book 4 (as yet unnamed) of the Empty World Series, I feel a bit like Frodo and Samwise heading to Mordor, I know where I have to get to (I can see it looming off in the distance, casting a menacing shadow over everything) but I’m not sure exactly how to get there or how I’m going to accomplish what must be done in the end.
In preparation for the writing of Book 4, I took the time to plot it by imagining the scenes, one by one. That same process worked extremely well for the writing of Book 3, At the Portal’s End. But I noticed as I plotted scene by scene, then began the actual writing of At the Portals End, the book forged its own path. In many cases it disregarded everything I’d imagined ahead of time. But since I had plotted all the way to the last scene, I ended up where I expected to–so all was well.
So in writing Book 4, I hope to keep track of how close the actual writing comes to following my original scene breakdowns. But since I’m going to chronicle the whole journey, In the interest of ‘coming clean’ I have to admit, for Book 4, I don’t have scenes plotted all the way to the end of the story-Ouch!
As it stands now, I know where I need to be in the ongoing saga of the Empty World when Book 4 is done, but some of the actual scenes and a few plot twists and turns to get me there, are still a bit ‘under-formed’–hence that ‘heading to Mordor’ thing. So while At the Portal’s End, delighted me with its unpredictable twists and turns, as I said, I did know exactly where and how it would end.
This one… ah, not so much.
But when I have that ‘aha’ moment, I’ll let everyone know–even if I don’t reveal what that ‘aha’ moment is.
And I’ll also include any other random thoughts or information as I get further into writing the book.
Let the writing begin!
–David K. Anderson
