Creeping In-Thoughts of a Different World
For the last few years my writing life has been firmly planted in the world of Jonathan Alvey. A reality close to this one, but with addition of magic and monsters that a portion of the population knows about. This world is where my brain exists. From novels to short stories, if I’m writing–or even just contemplating possibilities–it is in Alvey world.
This wasn’t always true. Years ago my brain was firmly set in another world. Still urban fantasy, but more along the lines of Charles de Lint than … well, I’ve been told Jim Butcher. I wrote two and a half novels and a number of short stories in this other world. I loved that world, it was fun in it’s own right.
And while I was still dancing with the fairies of that world, a darker, weirder, place got birthed in my brain. A world of the dead, of ash and bone, and – yes – magic. I started a novel based in this world, and had whispers of short stories floating in my mind.
All of this got put aside once I finished that first short story with Jonathan Alvey. With the birth of the White Dragon Black world, all others were laid to a long rest–until recently.
Just over the last couple months, that darker world has stirred. The land of the dead is calling to me and I’m not sure what to do.
Not including ‘Redemption’s Child’, which I have just begun, I still have five more novels set in the WDB to write. I assume there will also be the two, or three, short stories per year as well. I don’t want to leave this world. There is in me a fear that if I step away, I will somehow lose this strong connection, this deep understanding of Alvey, and my ability to channel his world.
And yet…
And yet, I have a strong urge to write a short story set in the that other darker land. I want to feel the ash on the wind and my fingers along the bones.
Do I risk living in one world to taste another again? Do I find out��just how good a writer I am? Do I walk that side alley or keep on this wide street? Do I challenge my brain or remain content in my accomplishments.
I honestly don’t know. My Muse may be the final arbitrator in this internal struggle. Maybe, in the end, I won’t have a choice.
Filed under: Writing Tagged: Ash and Bone, Charles de Lint, current work in progress, Jim Butcher, Jonathan Alvey, muse, novel, paranormal, plot, Redemption's Child, short story, Urban Fantasy, White Dragon Black Series, wierd thoughts, world building, writing
