Tedium
Untitled is now known as Avondalius.
I hate the planning phase of projects–especially big projects. I think that’s why up until now, I really haven’t ever gotten past the planning phase of any of the things I’ve done. But things are progressing, even though I haven’t figured out the core yet. There are so many questions on my mind about how I want to pull this off–everything from points of view, to character themes, to how much character back story I want to build up. Then there are experimental plot progressions. Jesus, my dump notes are a disaster area right now. I’m working with at least two different structures at the moment and I’ve got a budding structure for book two.
I figured I’d try something different for Avondalius in terms of the way the story is structured. Instead of one book, I’m giving a dilogy/duology a shot. The structure I’m going for is cause/effect or event/repercussions. I already have a very loose idea of what the repercussions are, but it’s been a bitch and a half making the cause sit well. Technically, its not even two books. It’s one book in two parts meant to “test” the dilogy structure. I think if I’d kept up with the original version of Salamander, it would have wound up a dilogy. I’ve always been very inspired by the Odyssey and Illiad and I’ve wondered what it would be like trying to structure something like that. Those two stories always struck me as very independent of each other. I’d like to try to achieve that and thread them together some how.
Ramble, ramble.
I think what I’m trying to get across with this rant is how much I hate the planning phase. No. Expound on how much I hate it. I mentioned in my guide one entry below how sometimes you can want to plow ahead with ideas but need to figure out where those ideas are headed before you can. Well, that’s my current dilemma. I know–more or less–where I’m going, but I need to know. My main goal for this, besides actually finishing it, is running it online to see if I can hold an audience. To do that, I need a pretty solid plan of book one and a rough outline of book two.
So I’ll cease bitching now–I’ve got classes to go to and a paper to write. Maybe that will settle my brain from the “PLEASE GIVE ME NEW MATERIAL SO I CAN GO BACK TO WRITING” thunderstorm going on in my brain right now. And maybe, in my anguish, I’ll find a way to make this first chapter behave itself without breaking out the bondage gear.