With the passing of July, I feel like I'm starting to move from playfulness to discipline.
Not that I haven't enjoyed sleeping in. Not that I've grown tired of T.V. books, and Candy Crush. But I feel the threat of September hovering just over the ridge. I'm having dreams of substituting. I suddenly feel the need to get something accomplished before the summer ends, even if it's not what I originally had in mind.
Oddly enough, the something I want to accomplish seems to consist primarily of braintorming and research. Last week, I just finished brainstorming my second novel for what has to be the third time, so this week I'm looking at two other stories I want to develop: Three Floating Coffins and Company. I've mentioned the former a few times, but I don't think I've properly explained what either is about.
In Three Floating Coffins, three princesses are cast into the ocean in (you guessed it) floating coffins, because a prophet has convinced their father, the king, that one of the girls harbored a dangerous magic. The evil one will sink into the sea, while the good ones would float safely back to shore. But youngest princess Odele knows the prophet is a liar. Escaping her coffin, she sets out on a quest to save her kingdom from the evil prophet. To do so, she must learn to wield her own magic and unearth the web of secrets that ensnare her land and her family.
Company is less developed. A ghost happens upon a discarded imaginary friend and together they form a strange friendship.
A week's worth of brainstorming has yielded an abundance of ideas, but they are at once too complex and not complete. Which, I suppose, is how I think. Nothing's simple to begin with. I just pray that I can simplify along the way.
As for research, I've profiled two agents, which might not sound like much, but it means breaking through a cloud of anxiety, so I'm happy. I've also gotten some reading done. Last Saturday, I finished Everlost by Neal Shusterman. Since it deals with ghosts, it inspired me to work on Company. I've also read the first five chapters of Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and the Birth of Democracy by John R. Hale. He does a great job of making ancient Greek history alive and exciting. Also read the first two chapters of The Byzantine Empire by Charles William Chadwick Oman, which was free on my Kindle. For a hundred year old book, it's surprisingly readable.
Writer's Club tomorrow. My Coffin story's getting reviewed. Wish me luck.
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