So things are going a little better.
I’ve been keeping a log of whenever I do research or writing, initially to help with my dissertation essay when I need to write it. But it’s also surprisingly motivational – I want to write something in it every day. When this thing’s finished I might post it up here for you guys to browse through (count the dark nights of the soul) but here’s a summary of the last week or so:
I’m trying to write 500 words a day on the project. Doesn’t matter what it is and it probably won’t be used in the final thing. But this method has really helped me: in one, Carla befriends a fire dancer at a magical Whitby Market. “Horace” didn’t last the cut but I got some setting ideas. In another, Brett is a sandmage, and loses an important key on the beach at night. This gave way to my renaming my five elements: flare (fire), breeze (air), dust (earth), blizzard (water) and crackle (electricity) which hint at weaker forms as they are now in the story. The last one used a character I had considered cutting, but a couple of spontaneous lines hinted at a darker past and an erratic personality that he hadn’t possessed before. He’s now likely to be reborn as basically a different character with the same name.
I had a small breakthrough with my magic system: you can charge an object with magic for later use, at the expense of tiring yourself to be more powerful later, or you can use the small store contained within the body – which is very dangerous. This has solved several problems: a) magic can’t be overly powerful so a peaceful society is plausible and there’s no overpowered characters, b) magic isn’t created from nothing and there’s a sense of balanced forces, and c) magic now has serious consequences for overuse. At the moment the actual effects of magic aren’t fleshed out but I can see the system working. And contrary to what I’ve read on some forum threads about elemental magic being overdone, I like it and want to keep it. So there. (Plus I feel that the alternate society is the interesting point, rather than the magical system itself.)
Plot is still pretty non-existent at the moment.
I’ve got my characters, now I need to figure out what they want. Aside from Miles (who is a grumpy, hardened Sentinel: sort of a magical peacekeeper) the others are average. All in their early twenties, all mooching about in my brain at the moment. What would drag them into an adventure, why them specifically? This is the next area to work on, now I have a small base to the world and magical system. There are no villains as such, though Miles is a possibility. Thus far I haven’t created any new characters for this “rebooted” novel but it might be time to start. Not really sure how to develop from here, but hopefully by writing something every day new ideas will spark. I’m hoping to have a plotstorming session or two with my uni friends, who may be able to nudge me in the right direction.
First dark night of the soul is over. But it probably won’t be the last.