Back to the Drawing Board

Wow! Thanks everyone for the congrats! I think that's the most comments I've gotten on this blog since I started it. I should finish a novel more often. ;)

Anyway, so we had our writing group on the 25th of last month, and I got some really great feedback from the ladies. They really liked the story as a whole, were impressed with the imaginative nature of it, and over all, I came away with the feeling that I might actually have something here. But I also came away with the overwhelming realization that there is still A LOT of work to be done--not something you want to hear when you've just finished a 700 and something page novel. At the same time, there was a lot of great feedback on what I can change and work on, and that is always encouraging.

So, I've gone back to the drawing board and have spent the last week and will spend next week as well beefing up the foundation of my novel. I've been imagining this thing up for nearly twelve years now, and though it's come to me in waves over the last three years, those little seeds planted in the beginning have continued to blossom into what is now a potentially five-seven book series. Not only that, but there is this alternate world I've created in the universe of my mind with endless stories to tell. I think every author has that one story in them that is solely theirs to tell--the story that they will be known for if it is told just right. I think this is my story. I mean, it's been with me for twelve years now, for cryin' out loud. I was even reading some of my stories that I wrote when I was ten or eleven, and I was using the same name for my heroes and heroins back then that I unknowingly chose for this novel. They just keep coming back to me, and are relatively the same characters, I've just put them into different stories. I think this is their best yet, however. If I can tell the story right, I think this will be my story to tell.

After this last week, I have a portfolio of my world's mythology complied, with things such as their mythological creatures, to key objects and their purposes within the story as well as their history and origin. I'm also in the process of compiling definition and pronunciation lists, as well as character analyses. Of course all of this has been in my head the last three years, slowly evolving, but now, with the novel finished...roughly, I'm able to flesh them out more fully, and put them on paper for my own personal reference book. This is the part of the writing process that I really love. I did this same thing in my Myths and Legends class in college (One of the coolest classes I've ever taken, though not my best grade; Jan Wellington, UVU). Anyway, she had us each create our own portfolio of creation myths and hero/heroine legends for our own little universe. I remember thinking back then how much fun it would be to do that seriously for this very universe that had been slowly budding in my mind, but I was way to embarrassed about my imagination back then to trust a teacher, let alone my entire class not to laugh at it. So, I did some spoof on SPAM or something lame like that. I would love to do what I'm doing now under the guidance of a professor and with the motivation of a finals deadline. But there it is. We usually learn our most pertinent lessons outside the classroom, right?

Anyway, I think the next few months will be full of joy, anguish and sorrow at having to say goodbye to massive yet unnecessary chunks of my novel, while I prune and polish it into something fit to send off to an agent. Then, I will be truly happy with it. Yeah right. Anyone who's been through this process before knows that the only time you're ever really satisfied with your work is either when you've gotten the grade you want, or someone sends you a sweet pay check in the mail. Even then, however; I think you're running through the manuscript with regrets at all the epiphanies you've had since you dropped it in the mailbox. But, so is life.

I'll be sure to keep you all updated on the progress. Thanks again for your support and encouragement. Again, if you've ever been through this process, you can understand how incredibly appreciated it is.