It all started out with my best friend, me, a cold December night, and a humidifier. It's first home was a notebook, practically torn apart by use. It was the first book that I ever finished. It was 80 pages long all typed up.
It was the first draft of my first ever real book, which I called Dun Zarum. That time, it was about a fourteen year old surf who is told by a traveling peddler that she's one of five children chosen to overthrow a tyrant king.
As my writing style matured, I began drastically editing my book. Over time, as I started to read better books (think 'The Boxcar Children' compared to 'Lord of the Rings') I saw that even the plot of the book was amateur.
Basically, the only thing that stopped me from throwing Dun Zarum in the trash was the characters. My six main characters--Ehra, Maki, Karo, Aera, Leela, and Gnomi--were more than half of my close friends. To delete them would be horrible. So then I started an extensive draft. It was better, but not great.
It was about that time when I set Dun Zarum aside and began to work on some other books. Unfortunately, those books struggled and ended after about the fifth chapter (at the longest). It was just after I quit my biggest idea yet that I began to feel homesick. I missed Ehra and Maki and the world they lived it.
I now call that book my 'home book'. Even though I work on other books that I love, I always return back to Dun Zarum.
Of course, now it's hardly recognizable. Ehra (her full name is Ehrathiwel Eladeen) is now a nineteen year old aristocrat of a kingdom that is struck by a fatal disease. Maki is now Maethar Eisling, a quiet knight. Now the main plot of the book is finding something to cure the Stillbreath, the Black Plague-like illness that is ravaging the kingdom. But the characters still survive and are the same friends from Dun Zarum.
I still have my beaten up first draft of Dun Zarum, which currently has the working name of Healing. Every so often, I flip through it and laugh over the cliche events and cheesy lines. Then I turn on my laptop and read Healing and see how much my characters and my writing has progressed.
I don't know if Healing will ever get published. When I finish, I might just squirrel it away somewhere for my eyes alone. I might read it to my kids. Or I could show it to the world, if it's worth it. But for me, Healing is the book where I feel like I'm home.
HEALING'S STATUS:
Began: December 16, 2008
Draft #: 6
Word Count: 10,064
Main Character: Ehrathiwel Eladeen
Villain: Unrevealed (meaning, I don't even know)
Deadline: Uh...December 2012
Coming up next: an excerpt of Healing!
Please do not copy my book and my book ideas. I will be very angry if you do.
1 comment:
good luck Izori! I remember reading it when you wanted me to edit it last year around this time, it's amazing how much we change over a year. I hope you have fun writing it.
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