As you can see, my writing progress has been slow coming this year. I’ve read plenty, but I’m starting to go a bit crazy from not writing… but on the other hand, leaping back in has been overwhelming, to say the least. I’ve been doing a lot of research on how some of the best writers have created their worlds as I’ve been looking for some sort of organisational system I could use. What I’ve really learned is that writers are very disorganised even when we try to be.

Imagine my surprise though when I found out that the current way I’m building my world is close to how Tolkien crafted Middle-Earth. As you’ve seen in some past posts, I’m a bit of a Tolkien fan, so this news was a revelation! I decided to focus all of my efforts (and a few dollars) into finding out as much into his creative process as I could. With books like The Art of the Hobbit and The Art of the Lord of the Rings in my hand, I skimmed them briefly hoping they were the holy grail I’d hoped for. They seem to be not far off!

I feel like at some point I will have to write down my own beginner’s process with the hope that someday it will prove helpful for some budding writer. I mean, originally all of my story ideas were in unique worlds; Some set in fictional histories or futures, while others in fantasy lands. It was the choice to adapt them all to the one world, that began to shape it into much of what it is today.

• A world where demons live in an alternate dimension tied to the very same world we walk upon.
• A world where people can pass between the two, only of a particular bloodline but they are hunted by an Inquisition.
• A world where people are starting to grow older than normal because Death himself has disappeared.
• A world where a single kingdom is creating a massive, magical army in an effort to unite the kingdoms under a single banner.
• A world where magic has evolved and flourished for nearly two thousand years.

My favourite things about my world thus far are the characters in it. Jefferson’s trilogy and his story arc has been an incredible journey (book 1, 1st draft complete). His mentor, Gabriel, and how he came to the power of magic in the first place has been fun to figure out (5 chapters in). Lastly, the Tartarus trilogy would be my Lord of the Rings epic with multiple viewpoints and very grey characters (good or bad, who knows?) (50k+ words written into book 1, Pandemonium). I’m enjoying discovering the world I’m creating, but also I’m torn.

Having written nearly two full novels worth of things in the same world, despite them being 2000 years apart, I am struggling to maintain the consistency of the history of the world. I’ve begun compiling the lore and the history (complete with timeline) into its own document so that I can keep tabs on what’s been said. The only problem there is that when you’re on a roll with writing the novel, you barely stop to update the notes. My memory is shocking, but I’m going to try so hard not to leave any massive gaps that people will judge later.

That all being said, I thought I’d pop by here to see how everyone else’s writing is going and reassure you all I’m still alive! Anyway back to editing/writing for me and let me know how you’re going so I can help you procrastinate a little bit more!