As I said in Novel Planning, I’d no desire to turn any story into a series but then I thought about it. A series is perfect because my characters in three different drafts, Feast, Isolated, and Nothing, are of the same race and the stories all have the same themes. I didn’t even do it on purpose, it just turned out that way! Now, I have to figure out how to weave together three separate stories that weren’t written to fit together. I could dump them and start over after I fully flesh out the world but, I feel these stories need to stay the way they are, for the most part. I can see the characters standing over me scowling and wagging their fingers. I’m not ready to give up on them just yet. I don’t think they’ll let me either. It helps a lot that the three stories already relate in major ways, I just need to iron out the little details. Hmm…powers aren’t exactly a little detail though- well, most of the majors are fleshed out.
I’ve plotted how the Power works for each individual character and why it’s different for them, now, I need to take a step back and flesh out how the Power works in general. (I know I’m going backwards.) I had an origin story for the creatures in the first novel of the series, Feast and I love it. But, a couple of days ago, just for fun, I decided to read some of Isolated, the second novel in the series. The Power is basically the same but it manifests differently and I never explain why. I really love this version too and don’t want to change it so, I rewrote the origin story (I’ve rewritten that story so many times!). Now, the Power in Feast, Isolated and Nothing fits well together. I’m pretty happy with what I’ve come up with. I’m having a lot of fun World Building!
It would be easier if I could work on one novel at a time but stories, characters and scenes just come to me. I can’t control when and I can’t ignore them- I’ve tried, believe me I’ve tried. I’ve lost sleep trying to ignore stories determined to be told. They don’t care how inconvenient it is for me. *Sigh* I love them anyway.
I’m really enjoying the puzzle of fitting Feast, Isolated, and Nothing together. I grossly underestimated how much work it would involve. I loved sitting with my journal yesterday and writing out what the Power was and wasn’t and where it came from- this time with the characters from all three drafts in mind. Now I just need a name for it. I could call it Power but I don’t think I like that very much. I also need a name for the race of creatures. Another puzzle I’m looking forward to solving.
3 thoughts on “Characters, Powers and Too Many Drafts”
Wow, good for you. I don't think–no, I know I couldn't handle working on more than one novel at a time. Maybe revising one and writing another. Good luck!
Have you considered or already have a library of your characters and settings. It may help you control the characters.
I never thought of creating a library but that's a great idea!
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