I’m pulling my hair out on this novel thing – and I haven’t even settled in to write a word yet. Pathetic, right? But here’s the thing that has me up late, plagued with second thoughts, and it isn’t the fact that my parents will be in town in less than 20 hours, which is what should have me up late. Its the fact that although the two novels I said I wanted to merge are definitely complimentary, the idea of combining them expands the breadth of the novel so much that it feels too big.
You see, I had this goal. Readers of normal fiction will arch an eyebrow and frown. Readers of epic fantasy will just shake their heads. I want to write an epic fantasy that isn’t multivolume.
Say What?
That’s right – epic scale fantasy, but actually starting – and finishing! – a story in the space of one book. I know, that’s not how its done, but I for one am tired (no matter how good they are) of waiting between books. I’d rather take the time to read one long book than to read six medium books.
Bah. I don’t even know why I’m writing this blog post. Probably because its easier than dealing with what I’ve been staring at all night, which is a mishmash of ideas, plots, and outline skeletons. I’m still sticking to the desire to outline this before attempting to write it, but feeling a little overwhelmed and daunted by scope creep.
I’ll let you know how it turns out, although it may be New Year’s before you hear from me again (what with parents followed closely by Christmas and all that jazz in the next week).