Today, I embarked upon a new novel and I decided to blog about its life cycle — the ups, the downs, the woe-is-mes and the triumphs. Every novel goes through a similar journey, but we usually try to recapture those feelings after the fact. It is so much more real to capture them in the moment. And feelings are at the heart of every new artistic creation.
In the beginning… there was an idea. It came from anywhere. It came from everywhere. It was in me all along and I happened upon it. Well, in this case the idea sprang from another idea. Kaitlin’s Tale is a by-product of Cassie Scot, the hero and heroine both minor characters from that series. I knew years ago that Kaitlin’s story would need its own book, but aside from that vague knowledge I honestly gave it very little thought until last month. So if you want to argue that part one should have happened years ago, you could do that, but if I began evaluating the life cycle of a novel with every odd idea that crossed my mind, I’d have a thousand part one’s and you’d never see a part two. So I begin with the only beginning that counts… the first word.
In case you’re curious, the word is “Jason.” But that’s all you get, especially since I won’t promise that this will still be the first word in the final draft. 🙂
There’s something thrilling about filling those first blank pages. It’s like a newborn — so much beauty and raw potential. There’s no such thing as an ugly baby (okay, that’s not entirely true, but to a mother, there’s no such thing as an ugly baby). Likewise, blank pages at the beginning of a novel are beautiful.
Today I am filled with possibility. And it is good.