World-Building and the art of Remembering

Writing is a perishable skill and there is no better example of that then not writing for a couple months and trying to jump back in with the same cadence that you left before you stopped. It’s alarming.

And that’s what is happening with book 4 right now. It’s slow moving forward, not only because of the self-imposed break but also because I’ve got more to consider. When Magic’s Genesis: The Grey was in progress, it was pretty free-flowing because Eigrae was a blank sheet. Sword of Wilmamen and Reckoning both were extensions of the first book and it all moved along like a steady current.

Now, however, there is a new dynamic at play in book 4 – one I don’t want to say too much about just yet – and I’ve already written and re-written the first chapter a couple of times. With each iteration, however, it starts to take shape, but now it’s not taking shape on a blank sheet. Now there is an actual world where all this needs to fit together. Some (certainly not all … not by a long shot) of the world powers have been met as have some of the people. As this builds it gets to be a challenge to keep it all sorted.

When people talk about George R.R. Martin, I can’t help but think, ‘man, why does it take him so long to write a book? If my only job was writing a book, I’d certainly be turning them out faster than he is.’ But I’m starting to understand it. There are a lot … a LOT… of moving pieces when you are world-building, and each character brings something with her/him that adds to that list. (That and the fact that writing isn’t his only job. He’s also promoting, talking, doing appearances, meeting with editors etc etc etc)

A great example of this is the Sword of Wilmamen – not the book, but the actual sword. There was, I think, a single line in The Grey that mentioned this sword and an Eifen warrior Wilmamen. Going forward into book two, I remembered this thing and brought it forward so that now the Sword is a ‘big deal’ in the context of the whole story. So, it’s not just plot lines and character arcs, it’s also trying to remember belongings of each individual who matters to the story.

It seems weird to read my own book, but writers absolutely must – just to keep track of what’s going on and who is where and do they use a sword or a hammer or an axe or … the list goes on.

So, that’s what I’m doing now – working on sorting and figuring out how what happens next figures in to what has already happened. I’m thinking it’s going to take a little longer than the last two books to get this into fighting shape, and so I’m going to say book 4 won’t be available probably until sometime in the new year – hopefully before spring.

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Cheers!