Chasing the dream

The idea of this blog post comes from a paragraph in a friend's wip, where one character is questioned about whether they are chasing their dream. It struck me in the heart. I bluntly replied 'no, I haven't been'.

I haven't been chasing my dream lately. Yes, I've been busy in life. But, I've also been a little lazy to some extent. I've been focusing on others' work. This is important - creating links and forging bonds with fellow writers really helps when the time comes for critiquing of a novel. But, sometimes the focus comes away from the dream.

I'm hoping the dream here is obvious! To get to the stage where I feel my work is acceptable for submitting to agents.

By acceptable, I mean as polished as I can possibly get it with the help of critiques. To the best writing I can achieve without help from an agent and editor.

I'm hoping that this can be November/December this year for Termion. Which means I've got a lot of work ahead. I plan on finishing Imperial Intrigue (draft 1), then revising Termion. I'm on chapter 5 now. I average around 30-35 chapters per novel at the moment, so just another 30 odd to go! I can do this, and I must write every day. I can write 1 chapter a day....its very doable in first draft stage, so that's what I'm aiming for. At the least, I'll be writing 500 words a day (see earlier post).

So, are you chasing the dream?

Breakthrough (or very bad idea) with Imperial Intrigue!

Gaming has many advantages. Including letting the muse have fun.

While playing away on Last Remnant, my muses had a breakthrough with Imperial Intrigue.

Background: I had previously been toying with having II set in same world as Termion.

The breakthrough is that it will be.

Here, Termions will take a backseat role. They will be the Emperor's personal bodyguards. At the moment, few people will know their true nature. It explains why no-one ever succeeds in assassinating the Emperor any more. Or why the Emperor doesn't see his nominated air as a threat.

As before, there will be a rogue group (possibly). Only they can't be subdued by force. No. Hallie will have to use the very drug she's in exile for against the Termion. And it'll work :) They'll be placid.

Just working out a few other major details, but this does explain why Imperial Intrigue didn't work when I first wrote it. Termion didn't exist back then.

If it doesn't work out, I can go back to my original idea (no Termion), but in the day where people like multi-book series, its worth a shot.

Have you ever written anything, (draft or not), shelved it, and come back to it only when you've gained elements from another story (or just a completely different viewpoint on it all?)