Sunday, November 30, 2008

One goal to bind them

Over on my DragonFUZE Comics blog I have set out my creative goals for 2009. Fans of Enshae: Phayrie Dawn will be keen to know that by the end of next year I want to have finished planning/ plotting the novel and to have at least started on the manuscript. While this sounds like a modest goal, I am going to have a lot on my plate in the coming year. I am trying to keep things achievable.

Due to a number of real world concerns, I haven't been able to do any near as much work on this project as I would have liked to. But, almost every day I do spend at least a few minutes coming up with new creatures or some other element of the world in which my phayries live. Progress is slow, but my creative wheels are moving...

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Starting from scratch

Being able to design my own world, with its own rules, mythology, creatures, races, magic, technology, religion(s), geography, history is, to me as a creator/ writer, one of the most appealing (and daunting) aspects of working in the fantasy genre. The idea for Enshae: Phayrie Dawn came to me on 29 October, so I have been at this for just over three weeks now and my ethusiasm for this project is only growing.

Still, I am taking this slowly, building idea upon idea as I try to form a picture in my mind of the world these creatures live in. Now, I haven't invented fairies (or as I call them phayries) and many of the creatures that live on this world are inspired by sci-fi/ fantasy staples. But, I am seeking to put my own spin on these traditional beings so that they seem somehow new and alien at the same time as being somewhat familiar.

At the moment, I am juggling two main threads of creating the world of Enshae: Phayrie Dawn: designing the creatures that inhabit this world and the technology they use to get through life, move around their world, store and access knowledge and fight for survival. Again, I am trying to put my own twist on typical sci-fi/ fantasy elements here and so far I feel I have come up with some unique angles.

What I am enjoying the most about this is that I feel as though I am an explorer wandering through some undiscovered country in another world, unearthing its origins and secrets. I intend to tell a number of stories in this world: some will be in the form of novels, some in the form of comic book stories, some as short prose stories. Creating this type of 'world bible' will allow me to draw on ideas and inspirations for countless stories set in the Enshae world.

At this stage, I am so in love with the concepts and the world that I am building that I want to do this forever. I want to explore and write about the history of these beings, their stories and struggles from the creation of their world to its end. There is no limit to what I can do in their world, because I created it. That is just part of the fun that comes with getting to know the phayries that live in my mind.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

A Foundation

The weekend is almost up, but I did get to put in an hour or so on this project today. All in all, I'll take that as a win. Right now I am deeply embedded in creating a new world. Like most aspiring fantasy writers, I have read a lot of the great modern masters of fantasy from Tolkein, to Eddings, to Jordan, to Williams... I have previously written a fantasy manuscript that was to be part one of a trilogy. I did finish the first book and the story was heavily influenced by many of those previously mentioned writers, especially the late Robert Jordan and Tad Williams. I did start the second book, but never finished it. That story lacked a strong, unique voice.

This time around, I have to be honest and say that it is years since I finished reading a fantasy novel/ series and I don't feel as though those stories have much, if any, influence on what I want to write in 2008/ 2009. This time, I am deliberately avoiding those writers who have had immense influence on me as I try to come up with what I hope is a unique vision.

Which is really why I am trying to put so much time into world building on this one, before I even come up with key characters. On my previous novel, I came up with the characters first and a loose idea of the plot, and then I just started creating the world and writing the story concurrently. This time around, I really want to understand the characters and their world before I even begin to craft their story. With a different approach, I hope I can come up with, and execute, a more unique vision.

I don't tend to tightly plot what I write, preferring to see where the story takes me as I write it. This time, I want to have a tighter reign on things as I have a fairly clear idea of the story that I want to tell. This time, I plan to work more closely from a plan. Really, that isn't my style either with stories in prose or comic book format so, if anything, it will be an interesting process with (hopefully) interesting and rewarding results.

I haven't got a time table that I am working to, but I feel I need to put quite a few months into planning before I start writing.

I hope to update this blog at least twice a week; that should keep me motivated to keep working on this project. Without doing any work, I won't have any updates for you.

Lastly, a shout out to a friend of mine and comic book creator/ writer/ artist/ publisher Tyler James. We had a good chat via email this week and he gave me a great idea on how I can link my desire to write prose with my aim to keep up some contacts in the comic book community. Also, I find Ty and his commitment to comics and creativity inspiring, so you should check his work out when you can.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

First light or a Genesis of sorts...

Welcome to the home of my new writing project, Enshae: Phayrie Dawn, a novel that will chronicle the creation of the phayrie universe. The last time I put finger to keyboard on a fiction manuscript was more than eight years ago. I have spent the better part of almost a decade seeking to tell stories in the comic book medium and have little to show for my efforts. As a creative outlet, writing prose was my first love and my head is spinning with the rush of our reunion.

My return has been greeted with personal euphoria as I nestle into the comfortingly familiar territory of building a new world. Previous worlds that I have created were more of an amalgam of other fantasy worlds I enjoyed, rather than my own creation. While, this is predominantly the style of writing I prefer to explore, I have largely lost the deep-felt love I once felt for fantasy fiction literature. More than six years have passed since I last completed reading a fantasy series. In the intervening time I have stopped and started reading new series, but never completed them. I am currently failing in my second attempt to read the first book of The Golden Compass trilogy. I blame my love of comic books as a story telling medium, and a lack of time, for killing my love of novels.

However, I now find myself with a waning interest in comic books (after a 15 year love affair) so it seems only natural to feel the nostalgic pull of fantasy fiction tugging at the creative parts of my soul.

So, here I am embarking on a new creative adventure; a novel about the evolution of phayries. Now, I am not talking about Tinkerbell or garden gnomes here. I am talking about beings that are masters of the greatest magic in all of time and space. I am discovering the lives and times of the first beings in all of creation; the phayrie.

At this time, I am a tentative explorer who has only taken the first hesitant steps into a new universe. I won't be using this blog to reveal major parts of the story, but this site will become a chronicle of my time exploring a new creative dawn.

Before I wrap this post, a clarification. While this blog will chronicle the creative process of creating the world of Enshae: Phayrie Dawn, key elements of plot, character and world building will not be explored; for obvious reasons.