Friday, October 07, 2005
it is important that i write. it is a form of public discourse. it is a way to communicate back to the screen, instead of sitting glued to a one-way conversation. it is important that we write, even if what we write doesn't always have importance. it is conceited of me to not write. so here we are.
i spend all of my spare brain power thinking about my books. so much time, i consider it a function of the actual writing. right now, the books are not very good. there are parts that are very good. the parts i have thought about. but then there is a whole world of nothing in between. I have one story i want to tell in many pieces. a story made up of 3 series, but all part of the same story. i don't want anyone to know that at first. i am telling you this because i expect you to forget. and if you don't forget, please keep it quiet when things start happening. consider it an inside joke. years down the road when (note replacement of my usual weak 'if') i write this story, i want to do it somewhat out of order. i explained the beginnings of this idea to matt, and he said it sounded schizophrenic. and it was. it still is. it is going to have to be for it to be any good.
i think i have strong schizophrenic tendancies, and i think there is a strong tie between these tendancies and my intelligence. in particular, what you might call the genius portion of my intelligence. the genius and the crazy inside of me cycle up the same parts of my brain. parts that are by definition on the edges of my control. the both can collapse into eachother at any time. worrying about the crazy keeps me from tapping it very often, but the strong respect for my own brilliance keeps it active and functioning under the surface of myself. considering how well we know ourselves in relation to how other people know us, everyone is brilliant. brilliant in ways other people don't know. but we know. i know i am a genius. not brilliant at everything, but a genius nonetheless. writing is a way to let other people know, so they can look through the window and see what i am seeing.
back to the schizophrenic story thought. i want to write this story in three parts. i want each part to seem completely seperate at the start. i want them to appear to be completely different entities when they begin. i am very excited about this idea. i want to write this story for those moments of shock, the moment recognition that will instantly add the other stories as background source information and change the reader's outlook on the story. right now, i am watching all the pieces fall into place while you are reading this story years in the future. i am grinning, because this is how the story was formed in my head. three seperate stories that evolved into the one story i had always dreamed of, the story that could encompass anything. for the past few months, pieces have been falling into place in my head. on the surface it looks like the laziest and the least successful period in my life. but it hasn't been. it has been of huge importance to me, and it has been exciting to watch the pieces swirl together and rearrange themselves in the proper order.
alright, time to spill out the plan for the story. this is the plan for the 3 parts. we start with a prequel for part 3. inauspicious and unassuming. it will leave some clues, one major one tying it to the first series, but hopefully will tie itself off well enough to seem complete with one major loose end that ends up hopefully forgetten the midst of the climax and the conclusion.
after the prequel, go directly into part 1. the dragons. this one we leaves serious questions about the fates of the two main chacters. the arcs of the story come to their dramatic conclusions, but there will be major questions about the ultimate fates of the main characters. part one is going to be brutal and animal. it is about dragons. these dragons need enough realism to have them fit into the story, which is told from human vantage points. to fit in, this part is going to need to be brutal. this is going to work to my advantage, because it will help gloss over the fact that things are left hanging. people will accept the close of the stories, because it is going to come to a fairly distinct ending point. i'm thinking 3 books or so, leaving two loose ends, one seemingly minor, one fairly major as it involves the ultimate fate of the dragon species
part two starts out with no relationship to either the prequel or part 1. it stays that way through the main story arc through the first 3 books. this time, i plan on leaving no loose ends. i want to make it look like i am closing out an action packed trilogy. then, at the end of book 3, i want to drop the bomb. the last loose end, the loose end left from the very start, in particular what happened in the 2 hours before book one starts is tied off, and opens up a whole new box of crazy, including the reemergence of the dragons. the main character of part one about the dragons makes an appearence by the end of book 3, which ties off one loose end from part 1 and explains what has happened in the very lengthy period of time between the two series. heads explode, book 4 comes out and answers the question about the fate of the dragon species, the second loose end. i'm thinking 5 books total, with the 5th book left completely open, essentially opening the entire world of this story.
which leads us back to the third story. we pick up 15 years after the end of the prequel. it isn't explained that this is part of the main story, but by now if you have read part one and part two, you should know what is happening. eventually, it will be explained and anyone who didn't get it will be clued in. the main character is the loose end that was left from the prequel. this third part is the story i thought would be the launching pad for all of my future stories. it was supposed to be the one that made everything possible. but now, it is only one layer, one world within the greater world. this world will have its own problems that relate back to the larger world built in part 2. we will see the main character of part 2 (who i consider to be the main character of the story as a whole) play a role in the series, at first indirectly and by the end of the series in person. i'm thinking 3 books, plus the prequel
after this, i can go back to any part. i can write about the dragons and what happened to them after their series. i can write about the main character and his exploits across the world after the end of part two. or i can write about the one world i built in part three and its characters. or i can build brand new worlds to send the other main characters from part 2. or i can go back and write the stories of what was happening to these other characters during the first 3 books of part two, when they weren't even a factor yet. i have more than i can write in my lifetime. i don't even have to worry about where to start or where to stop.
now that i have the story, and the three series, i have been thinking about the books themselves. if you counted, this story is looking like 12 books. all 12 have basic plotlines, some more developed by others. books 1-3 of part two are developed from start to finish, with all the major plot points i want to hit seperated into tenative chapters. part 1 has 3 distinct books already planned out. i have been planning part 3 since before the other two parts existed, but it has been changed by the other parts for the better, so there are still a bunch of details that need to be worked out. which is where i am now. reworking part 3 so i can rework the prequel without creating any glaring inconsistancies that will handcuff the main part 3 trilogy before it starts.
then i write the prequel, which i hope will start with the kind of planning i have put into the first 3 books of part two before i write any more. i actually already started the prequel, years ago, so it will be more of a continuation. in the end i will probably throw out everything i have written so far, but that remains to be seen. i don't have much written, but it is there. text on the page. and there you have it. check the bookstores about 10 years from now :)
i spend all of my spare brain power thinking about my books. so much time, i consider it a function of the actual writing. right now, the books are not very good. there are parts that are very good. the parts i have thought about. but then there is a whole world of nothing in between. I have one story i want to tell in many pieces. a story made up of 3 series, but all part of the same story. i don't want anyone to know that at first. i am telling you this because i expect you to forget. and if you don't forget, please keep it quiet when things start happening. consider it an inside joke. years down the road when (note replacement of my usual weak 'if') i write this story, i want to do it somewhat out of order. i explained the beginnings of this idea to matt, and he said it sounded schizophrenic. and it was. it still is. it is going to have to be for it to be any good.
i think i have strong schizophrenic tendancies, and i think there is a strong tie between these tendancies and my intelligence. in particular, what you might call the genius portion of my intelligence. the genius and the crazy inside of me cycle up the same parts of my brain. parts that are by definition on the edges of my control. the both can collapse into eachother at any time. worrying about the crazy keeps me from tapping it very often, but the strong respect for my own brilliance keeps it active and functioning under the surface of myself. considering how well we know ourselves in relation to how other people know us, everyone is brilliant. brilliant in ways other people don't know. but we know. i know i am a genius. not brilliant at everything, but a genius nonetheless. writing is a way to let other people know, so they can look through the window and see what i am seeing.
back to the schizophrenic story thought. i want to write this story in three parts. i want each part to seem completely seperate at the start. i want them to appear to be completely different entities when they begin. i am very excited about this idea. i want to write this story for those moments of shock, the moment recognition that will instantly add the other stories as background source information and change the reader's outlook on the story. right now, i am watching all the pieces fall into place while you are reading this story years in the future. i am grinning, because this is how the story was formed in my head. three seperate stories that evolved into the one story i had always dreamed of, the story that could encompass anything. for the past few months, pieces have been falling into place in my head. on the surface it looks like the laziest and the least successful period in my life. but it hasn't been. it has been of huge importance to me, and it has been exciting to watch the pieces swirl together and rearrange themselves in the proper order.
alright, time to spill out the plan for the story. this is the plan for the 3 parts. we start with a prequel for part 3. inauspicious and unassuming. it will leave some clues, one major one tying it to the first series, but hopefully will tie itself off well enough to seem complete with one major loose end that ends up hopefully forgetten the midst of the climax and the conclusion.
after the prequel, go directly into part 1. the dragons. this one we leaves serious questions about the fates of the two main chacters. the arcs of the story come to their dramatic conclusions, but there will be major questions about the ultimate fates of the main characters. part one is going to be brutal and animal. it is about dragons. these dragons need enough realism to have them fit into the story, which is told from human vantage points. to fit in, this part is going to need to be brutal. this is going to work to my advantage, because it will help gloss over the fact that things are left hanging. people will accept the close of the stories, because it is going to come to a fairly distinct ending point. i'm thinking 3 books or so, leaving two loose ends, one seemingly minor, one fairly major as it involves the ultimate fate of the dragon species
part two starts out with no relationship to either the prequel or part 1. it stays that way through the main story arc through the first 3 books. this time, i plan on leaving no loose ends. i want to make it look like i am closing out an action packed trilogy. then, at the end of book 3, i want to drop the bomb. the last loose end, the loose end left from the very start, in particular what happened in the 2 hours before book one starts is tied off, and opens up a whole new box of crazy, including the reemergence of the dragons. the main character of part one about the dragons makes an appearence by the end of book 3, which ties off one loose end from part 1 and explains what has happened in the very lengthy period of time between the two series. heads explode, book 4 comes out and answers the question about the fate of the dragon species, the second loose end. i'm thinking 5 books total, with the 5th book left completely open, essentially opening the entire world of this story.
which leads us back to the third story. we pick up 15 years after the end of the prequel. it isn't explained that this is part of the main story, but by now if you have read part one and part two, you should know what is happening. eventually, it will be explained and anyone who didn't get it will be clued in. the main character is the loose end that was left from the prequel. this third part is the story i thought would be the launching pad for all of my future stories. it was supposed to be the one that made everything possible. but now, it is only one layer, one world within the greater world. this world will have its own problems that relate back to the larger world built in part 2. we will see the main character of part 2 (who i consider to be the main character of the story as a whole) play a role in the series, at first indirectly and by the end of the series in person. i'm thinking 3 books, plus the prequel
after this, i can go back to any part. i can write about the dragons and what happened to them after their series. i can write about the main character and his exploits across the world after the end of part two. or i can write about the one world i built in part three and its characters. or i can build brand new worlds to send the other main characters from part 2. or i can go back and write the stories of what was happening to these other characters during the first 3 books of part two, when they weren't even a factor yet. i have more than i can write in my lifetime. i don't even have to worry about where to start or where to stop.
now that i have the story, and the three series, i have been thinking about the books themselves. if you counted, this story is looking like 12 books. all 12 have basic plotlines, some more developed by others. books 1-3 of part two are developed from start to finish, with all the major plot points i want to hit seperated into tenative chapters. part 1 has 3 distinct books already planned out. i have been planning part 3 since before the other two parts existed, but it has been changed by the other parts for the better, so there are still a bunch of details that need to be worked out. which is where i am now. reworking part 3 so i can rework the prequel without creating any glaring inconsistancies that will handcuff the main part 3 trilogy before it starts.
then i write the prequel, which i hope will start with the kind of planning i have put into the first 3 books of part two before i write any more. i actually already started the prequel, years ago, so it will be more of a continuation. in the end i will probably throw out everything i have written so far, but that remains to be seen. i don't have much written, but it is there. text on the page. and there you have it. check the bookstores about 10 years from now :)
