I've started Acacia 2!
Okay. It happened. Today I opened a file, typed out a title page, formatted the headers and page numbers, and wrote about 200 words of my next novel. That's a pathetic page count; when things are going well I aim for 2000 words in a day. But that's not the point. What's important, I think, is that I've finally carved out a place for The Other Lands (Acacia, Book 2) to grow into. It's been over half a year since I finished the last book, so I've been feeling the pressure to get started, along with the fear of getting started, for some time now. But, there it is, the book is beginning to exist.
The actual words I wrote don't begin at the beginning and at the moment exist without other words around them to give them context. I've put a little excerpt below, which I'm happy for you to read so long as you know that it may not make it into the book. Actually, it's easier to share it in this context - as some words I put on the page to help me find - in the coming year or so - the words that will eventually really belong on the page. Here's part of what I wrote today.
That night she dreamt of the creature's eye. It hung in the air before her like a moon made huge and monstrous. She woke telling herself that it was not possible that she'd seen intelligence in that eye, that she'd not heard the creature's thoughts, that hed not expressed a hatred for her and her kind that - in its reasoned, simmering potency - went far beyond that of any simple beast.
Yes, this does happen to a particular person, but it occurred to me at the last minute that I shouldn't post her name since the first book isn't even out yet. Not everyone makes it through that first book alive, so naming a person here would be giving a little bit away.
Anyway, thanks for reading this, and know that I'm very happy to be at it again!
The actual words I wrote don't begin at the beginning and at the moment exist without other words around them to give them context. I've put a little excerpt below, which I'm happy for you to read so long as you know that it may not make it into the book. Actually, it's easier to share it in this context - as some words I put on the page to help me find - in the coming year or so - the words that will eventually really belong on the page. Here's part of what I wrote today.
That night she dreamt of the creature's eye. It hung in the air before her like a moon made huge and monstrous. She woke telling herself that it was not possible that she'd seen intelligence in that eye, that she'd not heard the creature's thoughts, that hed not expressed a hatred for her and her kind that - in its reasoned, simmering potency - went far beyond that of any simple beast.
Yes, this does happen to a particular person, but it occurred to me at the last minute that I shouldn't post her name since the first book isn't even out yet. Not everyone makes it through that first book alive, so naming a person here would be giving a little bit away.
Anyway, thanks for reading this, and know that I'm very happy to be at it again!
Labels: Acacia, Creative Process, The Biz
posted by David Anthony Durham at
5:28 PM
2 Comments:
David, This sounds very cool. I can't wait to get a published copy of book 1. I really love how your blog has served you and us (the public) in chronicling the process. Hope you guys are holding up out there in CO. Not much snow here, so you are probably glad to be getting a good wintertime out west. Cheers!
Ger
Hey Gerry,
Thanks for writing. Glad to be getting a good wintertime... Hmmm, I guess so, but at this point I'm a bit tired of it, actually.
You will, of course, get one of the very first copies of Acacia: The War with the Mein.
David.
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