Saturday 20th March 2021

I got the basis of a new idea yesterday.

One of the things I’ve been miserable about is that I really like aspects of Black as Knight’s worldbuilding.  I’d still like to write in that world but my professional head has told me that the next thing needs to be far removed from it.

And perhaps it is as I’ve continued to edit 4S and that’s very different.

But in coming up with outlines, I’ve stayed far away from any of the elements that I loved about Black As Knight.  And that’s made me sad and a bit lost.

I’ve tried to pick apart the reasons that Black As Knight failed to find a publisher.  I have my beliefs and suspicions, and they’re only that.  Only one publisher said it was because of the type of book I wanted to write and that was a commercial decision made at acquisition stage based on their own experience which can be disproved industry-wide.

So why not write another that type of book.  New world, new characters, different story.  Write the book I’d write if Black As Knight had come out, the entire series had been finished and I’ve now gone onto something new.

It’ll give me chance to take my time and build a proper magic system.

I’ve done the mental gymnastics to see if this idea could work with the two outlines I’m working on at the moment.  This is a group book with multiple POVs so that aspect could work with either.  However, putting it into the epic fantasy world I’ve created, doesn’t work.  The world is too modern for the concept to work.  It needs an older world.  Likewise with the other idea, that’s set in the modern world and whilst it has a group, I think the group dynamic is too different for it to work.

What it does match though, is my web serial idea.  Maybe this is my web serial, although this is now starting to feel more like a novel.

I’m not sure how a story goes from suiting a web serial to a novel, but it feels like this idea shifts the fragments of idea I had for a web serial into the novel realm.

Most importantly, I’m excited about this.  This could work, but I need to do a bunch of research and I’ve worked late into the night.

This requires a really robust magic system, and that’s going to be my focus from tomorrow onwards.  I’ve always thought my magic systems to be a little weak, and because this will serve as the basis of my magic systems going forwards, I’ll happily take a week to build it.

So plan for this coming week is:

  • Finish editing 4S
  • Finish of 2 outlines
  • Build Magic System
  • And if I can… write 3rd outline.

 

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