Stories

I think a lot about stories. Characterization, plot, description, pacing. All sorts of catch-words. I've read a lot about how to write (just like a lot of would-be authors). I took a class back in college. I went through a self-paced online class. I've spent a lot more time thinking about what I want to write than actually doing the writing itself.

My last attempt at a story was last October, when I was prepping a new setting for NaNoWriMo. I was all set until the first day, when I crashed hard on depression and gave up without writing a single word of prose. I have pages of notes about the setting and the characters. I'd brainstormed for months. But I couldn't make myself actually start.

I have a novel setting – the Council of Dawning – that has literally been in my head for 20 years. I have huge amounts of notes on it. I have a clay cast from art class I made for it. It's gone through a lot of iterations, maturing along with myself and my worldview. You've seen glimpses of it here, different takes on Raeth, Aurora, and the newest addition, Isabella.

There is part of me obsessed with that setting.

What I don't have is a solid idea of what I actually want to do with it. I don't want to write it without a compelling story behind it, because it's so important to me.

It feels like my settings are too important to me to sully by committing them to the page.