12/24/14
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Starting a new series is always difficult for me. I have to figure out the setting, the characters, and the plots all at the same time. Plus, because it's a series, I have to figure out how all the books tie together. The first part is hard, but it's fun. I love figuring out settings and new characters and the plot comes along as I plan out each story. The second part I struggle with, which makes it a little less fun. I didn't have any continuity of plot planned for the entire series when I wrote Finding the Wolf, the first book in my Dragon's Hoard Series, and it showed. I had great stories to tell about each of the different characters, but the books themselves didn't tie together well to make the series feel like a cohesive whole. I still love the Dragon's Hoard books and so do my readers, but I am not blind to the faults in my first series. My second series was The Oracle and in The Oracle's Flame I tried to correct my mistakes. Unfortunately, the composition of Flame made that difficult. I originally wrote Flame for an anthology call, but LT3 asked to publish it as a stand alone novel instead. I was able to rework the plot to find some continuity for the series, but it fizzled out after The Oracle's Hatchling and I had to turn in a different direction for The Oracle's Golem. Again, I love the series, I will happily keep writing the books until the series is finished, and the different direction will carry the series successfully to conclusion, but I know I can do better.
Dragon Consultant is my attempt to do better. As the first book in a new series, the Supernatural Consultant Series, it has to tick off some very specific boxes. The characters and the settings have to be introduced and the plot for the single book as well as the plot for the entire series has to be planned out. It's a lot to fit in, but without a strong start the series will begin to struggle and I don't want that to happen. I kept that in mind as I wrote Dragon Consultant and I think I was successful. I have put together the settings so the world my characters live in isn't a total mystery and the characters themselves are distinct and fun. Most importantly, I figured out an overall plot for the series wherein each individual book can crack open a little more of it. Which brings me to the rest of the series and the giant question mark there. I know there are some authors who plan out an entire series from book one to book ten before they start writing anything. My brain isn't organized for that, unfortunately. Instead, when I wrote Dragon Consultant I left plenty of possibilities for things that could happen in subsequent books in addition to the overall plot of the series. I don't know exactly what might happen in book two or book ten (if the series will even be that long), but I have written enough in book one to be able to create a beginning for the rest of the series. So far book two is a little muddled. I originally planned for a ten year gap between Dragon Consultant and Dragon Detective to let my main character in Detective grow up. It has worked well enough so far and Dragon Detective is growing steadily, but those ten years were bothering me. I decided to throw in a fun short story halfway between the two stories to help lessen the time difference. It started out being called Dragon Consultant's Day Off, which was eventually shortened to Dane's Day Off. Now, however, it's called Dragon Deception and I'm thinking it might be a full book two and Dragon Detective might move to book three. That might sound confusing, but it's really not. I knew early on that the Dragon's Hoard series would only be four books and that The Oracle's series would only be five. As much as I love both series and want to write another book in them, there just wasn't enough plot available for more. I compromised with Oracle by starting a side series set in the same world, but it's with different characters and a totally different plot. The Supernatural Consultant series, on the other hand, doesn't have a finite end that I can see. I was able to set up the series from the first book to go on for as long as I can stretch it. It's entirely open ended, which means that until Dragon Detective is in the publisher's hands I can't say for certain whether it will be book three or book five! There's a lot of potential and I'm looking forward to seeing what the series has to offer. Dragon Consultant has been submitted to LT3. I'm hoping to hear good news from them soon! To keep track of my progress writing Dragon Deception and Dragon Detective, as well as any other possible and eventual books in the series, please stop by my Coming Soon page. 12/11/14
12/8/14
12/2/14
Winter break is on its way! I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas is enjoying the holiday season. Hanukkah actually overlaps with Christmas this year, so I get to feel somewhat included in the fun! The upcoming Winter and New Years breaks mean that my job will be closed for two weeks. That's a lot of extra writing time, so I've written a slightly larger goals list than usual in the hope that I'll have a lot of extra time to get things done.
11/12/14
11/10/14
I have loved the characters and plot for Dragon Consultant ever since I first came up with the idea of five dragon kits and their dad lost in the forest. The story was originally supposed to be for an anthology/collection call. The call asked for unique shifters and a minimum of 50k words. I started working and quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to reach 50k by the deadline. I had too many responsibilities to my other stories; some were in edits and others also had nearing deadlines. I was forced to reluctantly abandon the call and to put Dragon Consultant aside. In the months since, I have caught up on most of the deadlines and edits and I suddenly have the time to pull out old stories, dust them off, and see whether I can get them going again. This was part of my third goal for November.
I read through Kelpie Blue, If A Butterfly Don't Fly, and Ge-Mi first, but quickly realized that all three stories were stalled on difficult scene changes that I hadn't figured out how to smooth over just yet. Instead of tormenting myself with them, I put them back into storage for the moment. Next I thought about starting Justified, but came to the conclusion that adding yet another story to my already extensive to-do list was stupid; Justified could wait. My last hope for completing goal three was Dragon Consultant. Luckily, Dragon Consultant wasn't stuck on an awkward scene change. I had put it aside mid-scene all those months ago and was able to pick up where I left off. The premise of the story is simple enough: a bunch of dragons were traveling to visit my main character to ask for his help in trying to save some other dragons that had been captured by the enemy. Cuteness ensued. However, as I was continuing to write I soon realized that there is a serious problem with the story: I rushed the original planning process trying to meet the deadline and don't have an end-game. I also realized that the original parameters for the story no longer apply. I don't have to write 50k. I could write 20k or 200k, but I don't have any idea what length the plot calls for because I don't know enough of the overall plot! This is a serious problem, one which I have to solve before Dragon Consultant can go anywhere. There are two main plot lines in the story: save the dragons and defeat the bad guy. If I stick to just that, the story will probably end up around 25k. I could also expand the bad guy's role so there are more trials and tribulations for the characters to jump through. That would probably stretch the story to at least 40k. The third option is to write the 25k story and have a sequel that will encompass option two. I'm honestly partial to option three--mostly because I love the MCs that would star in the sequel--but I until I sit down and really plan out the plot of the first book I just don't know what is possible. I will continue to work on Dragon Consultant through November and I'm really hoping it will spark enough plot to continue to star in my goals list through the New Year. If anyone wants to stay in the loop about how writing is going, please visit my Current Projects page where I'll keep my word count progress up to date. |
Coming Soon
Gifting a Dragon's Heart
March 19, 2024 Soul Bond
January 30, 2024 Twin Elements
October 17, 2023 Witch
April 15, 2023 AuthorMell Eight is an author writing with NSP. For more information about Mell and her writing, please visit her website: http://melleightfiction. Tags
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