The Writing Plan
The last time I did a “plan” post was almost exactly two years ago. Before that, it would have been roughly five and half years ago. I’m returning my attention to this part of my life and I want to rebuild some confidence in what this is going to look like for the future.
I have been inconsistent (yeah…let’s go with inconsistent) in my writing over the past decade. So I’ve been hesitant to talk about where I am going with things for a few different reasons. Whenever I do, I tend to miss those dates.
The past two years have seen a greater rate of production, both internally for word count as well as being able to translate that into something that actually gets published. I had a major spike in early 2020 that saw the publication of the Order Bound Novella and FayTown Calling. In October of last year, I started working on turning Order Bound into a full blown novel (making it book two in the series…because of…reasons…) and then in the past month or so revised and edited both Sorcerer Rising and FayTown Calling, creating a trilogy that is stronger than its ever been. In between that, I have been working on the development of my next two novels, as well as a separate series.
In those two major spikes of production, I produced 150k – 200k of words. That’s not the biggest deal, there are writers that probably have that kind of output routinely, but relative to the rest of my writing career, it’s a significant uptick and what I consider to be a personal accomplishment. Do that every year, that’s a couple books (or maybe one book if you are talking about one of mine) annually.
The first major spike was simply due to having the time. It was March of 2020, I had been laid off right as Covid was starting up. I was at home, learning how to homeschool kids and deal with all that, while also applying and interviewing, but I still had more time and focus to write than I ever had.
The second time was this past Fall, and that was a big deal because I did NOT have the time. I did it across one or two hours a night. After work. After the kids were in bed. After watching TV or reading or spending time with my wife or whatever. Occasionally, I threw a few more hours at it on the weekend. I did it casually, before getting online to do my nightly gaming. Here and there when I had time. And 80k words later, I had Order Bound. And even though it was over the span of four or five months, most of the writing actually happened in a two month period. Working from home has made this easier, not because I get to write while working but because I have carved hours out of my day that used to be dedicated to a routine commute. I have also worked on some work/life balance things that have left me with more energy at the end of the day.
So, all that said, it is my full intent to have my next book out this year. God, it makes me anxious to put that out there, but I say it with a firmer bedrock of confidence than I have felt in the past. Before, I was generally looking at a spreadsheet, building out a writing schedule, and telling myself that all I had to do was stick to that to make this happen. It was untested and unsuccessful.
Now? Now, I’m saying it having done it. Having done it during unprecedented times and during hard times, busy with a full time job, my wife’s own work schedule, two kids, the whole thing.
So, where does that leave us? Blood Pact this year. Pilfered Souls next year. I’ve never really talked about my long term plans for Virgil, but I have a wall with a dozen or so small cork boards and each one represents a high level plot and story elements for one of the novels I have planned for him. Each one will be a surprise when I finally get to it but there’s an overarching plot, one you are beginning to see with FayTown Calling in particular.
I’m also working on another series, but I don’t know when or how it will happen. That’s still largely in my head and I don’t have the full plot laid out. I’ve called it The Path Unknown for the entire time it has been in existence, and that was years before I handwrote a short story in a notebook called Chasing the Rainbow, so it’s a good three or four years older than Virgil. I have completely reimagined some critical elements but I am excited to one day produce that.
There could be changes to this plan, I can’t pretend otherwise. I am super, super big on outlining but at the end of the day, I find the story as I am writing it. There are major characters, major concepts, entire plot points, that didn’t exist until I stumbled into them on the page.
So that’s what I’m doing now. One hour a night, two if I’m feeling it. A few hundred words on slower ones, a thousand or more on the better ones. Pure drafting on that stupid Freewrite.
It’s been a bit slower the past few weeks. I let myself edit and revise a lot over the past couple months. Shifting into brand new territory where I don’t know how the story will play out is intimidating. I’m keeping an eye on that feeling, watching it to make sure it doesn’t grow. There’s usually a point where I find a hook in my own story that grabs me. For Order Bound, the struggle was real until a very specific setting and character came along. I have a few hooks for Blood Pact that have gotten me excited but I haven’t found the thing that scares the hell out of me yet. The thing that I absolutely MUST put on paper and am absolutely horrified that I will not be up to the task.
The difference is that I am looking for it, putting words down each day in that search.
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