Sunday, September 5, 2021

Writing Update for Outlander Chronicles: Icarus, book three of the series

Three years ago next month (October, 2018) I started writing Outlander Chronicles: Icarus. Within two months I gave up--the story just was not coming. A year or so later I gave it another brief shot, only to give up again. The story just wasn't working and I wasn't happy with what I had written. I pretty much gave up on a book 3 of the Outlander series.

After several years off from working on the Outlander series, finally this past January I picked up the tale again, pretty much starting from scratch, (although I was able to use some scenes from my earlier attempts with significant re-writing).

Now I am a little over 1/3 of the way to my target word count of 100K, and I am excited about the tale--it's developing into a great story.

I'm also a little nervous. Normally I know how I want the tale to end before I even start writing it. Not so with Icarus. This is the first novel I've written without being sure exactly how I'm going to "land the plane."

I've often said that, as an author, I don't find out what's happening next in my tales until I actually write the scene. If you've read Outlander Chronicles: Phoenix, you're aware of a pretty shocking event near the end of the book (no spoilers, please) (and by the way, some of my readers STILL haven't forgiven me!!). I did not know that event was going to happen until I was actually typing the words. It was unplanned.

Not true with respect to the endings of my books. I know the ending when I'm writing the opening scene (although I haven't the foggiest notion of how I will get from 'A' to 'B').

Right now, the ending of Icarus in my mind is a blank page. Guess I'll find out when I get there...