Staring Down the Path
My current journey of writing all started with daydreams. Having an active imagination, I would sometimes lie in bed at night contemplating dramatic scenes from a number of different story lines. In the case of Northman’s Exile, I imagined the scene where Jhune first encounters Majid in the streets of Velsen many times over. I would play the scene out in my mind, make alterations, and try to make it believable. It was probably such daydreams that prompted me to eventually start to put some of it down on paper.
I first made a brief foray into writing late 2017. I wrote a couple pages, liked what I read, and then didn’t touch it again until January 2018. At that point I reviewed the material, made some improvements, wrote a few more paragraphs, but never really made the commitment. Over the course of several months, I would periodically pull up the draft, read it, think some of it was rubbish, and work to make improvements and add a little more. It wasn’t until July 2018 when I started writing consecutive days. I wrote one day, loved the experience, and picked it back up the next evening. By the end of the month, I was writing every night after work, and as much as I could on weekends. The following weeks and months, I wrote almost every day. Some days I cranked out volumes of material, while others were a little more laborious in nature.
Some people I know have asked about the creative process. I know there are a number of methods and schools of thought. My method is to have a basic framework for the story, with a chronology of major dramatic scenes in mind. But I did not outline my writing in advance. I left the connectors, some of the subplots, and even some of the characters subject to pure spontaneous creativity. Believe it or not, but Djamila was produced from such spontaneity. When I first imagined her, she was not a main character in the story, but her story arc developed as I wrote. Now, one could argue that the book, Northman’s exile, is just as much Djamila’s book as it is about Jhune. But it did not start that way.
I am fascinated by the creative mind, and how ideas can come to fruition. There are times when I think on an upcoming scene that I will soon connect to. Sometimes, the flood gates open pertaining to a pending scene, and I must jump to collect as much of the creative thought as possible. Concepts, dialogue, dramatic affects flood my mind, and I have learned not to shut the flood gates, but to harvest the ideas when they come. Most of the time I am merely writing notes, capturing witty dialogue, or collecting dramatic mechanics. Once collected, I then return to what I was writing with a good feel for where I am going.
I have no idea how common my creative process is, but it works well for me. As it stands, I have scenes in mind for books 2 and 3. Ideas that I have daydreamed about many times. I know how they will fit into the larger story. Subplots, new characters, and diverging paths are already starting to form. But before I can move on with the rest of the story, I must first work through the current book and produce the best finished product as possible.