Total Immersion

Movie Quote of the Day:
“You sly dog! You got me monologuing!”
–Syndrome, The Incredibles

I still feel icky. Despite hunger, every time I eat, it makes me a little queasy. I suppose it will take a few days to get completely back to normal. I don’t even want coffee – and that’s saying something!

Woke up at four this morning with the novel chattering in my head. I could hear the words of the places I created, see the characters, almost hear their voices. I suppose it was because I spent a good deal of time yesterday gathering my notes on my world-building. I had them in about four places. So I began to compile them in one Word document I could reference easily.

I made a list of everything from the titles to places to objects; broke out the royal hierarchy and the hierarchy of all the magic-users (good and evil); created the seasons and holidays and their significance; definition of the culture and social status. I wrote the (brief) history of the two warring nations, as well as the history of the neutral territory and why it was caught in the middle of the two. I created words in the language the magic-users use. I renamed some of the places. Because I’m basing this on Celtic myth and legend, I chose names that would follow the sound and feel of Celtic myths. I still need to write down the laws of magic.

I have Holly Lisle’s world-building articles at Forward Motion to thank for helping me learn how to do this. Without these helpful articles, I would have never known how to go about doing it. Or even where to begin.

My next order of business is to draw a map. I have a one already sort of drawn up, but I’d like to get it down on graph paper and in color so I can actually see the rivers, mountains, forest, etc.

I also considered cutting out a rather large chunk of a subplot that really doesn’t need to be there. It’s just taking up space and detracting from the main focus of the story – the quest and the romance. So I will more than likely cut it out (save it future use, though! I’m sure there’s a deeper darker story there with these characters that needs to be explored further). It will chop approximately 20,000 words from the manuscript, which is okay because it will tighten up the story.

Anyway, I was so immersed in this world it was difficult to let it go, to lay my head down and go to sleep. That’s why it was still there when I woke this morning at 4 am, why it continued to rumble around in my head for two hours before I finally got up to get ready for work. It is making it difficult for me to focus on anything BUT the novel. But I know I have to get busy back on the serials.