the inner workings of a young writer

My current work in progress is a fantasy novel, The Dark Witch, which still has a lot of work left to go.

For TDW I've got character biographies, an outline, a very crappily drawn world map, a range of races with information about them and a few other things to help me.  I still need to create a language or two for a few of my races but since I'm terrible at languages I'm happily putting it off.

The novel is aimed at adults and I sincerely hope it will be published one day.  This is the third time I've began the draft so I'm praying third time's the charm.  The first draft I wrote was at thirteen and it was terrible - filled with clichés and Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu's.  That was when I joined Fiction Press and got reviews and studied the fantasy stories of the other writers.  I learnt things like adverbs are bad, making villains kill the messenger just to show how evil they are is bad and having sentences like 'A vicious smile spread across his malicious face' is just plain bad.

So I rewrote the draft for a second time.  I was about fifteen and I managed 22,000 words.  That's when I found Critique Circle.  The reviews I got were fantastic and I learnt so much.  In fact I'm still learning from that website.  It's definitely the place to go if you're serious about your writing and you want in-depth critiques.

Two years ago, with five years of experience I started TDW again and this time I have faith that what I'm writing is decent and that I'll finish the draft.  Sure, the writing's not perfect but that's what a first draft is about and what editing is for.

I began round about January 2007 and though I haven't done as much as I'd like, I haven't given up on it.  I get a lot of writer's block but I'm trying to make myself write through them.  I think the reason for the writer's block is that TDW is the story of mine.  It's the one I want published more then any others and it's the one I want to be perfect.  And being perfect is difficult.  Finding the perfect word to make the perfect sentence for the perfect paragraph in the perfect page of a perfect chapter of my perfect story is tiring.  It's hard to separate my inner writer from my inner editor but I'm doing my best and learning along the way.

After fifty years of imprisonment, the weak and broken dark witch Aryana manages to escape from her captor Necrom.  Longing only to be free, Aryana wants nothing more than to forget her past and begin her life afresh.  But, fearing the witch will reveal his secrets, Necrom sends forth his army of golems, his undead creatures, to kill her.  If she survives, everything he has worked for will be for nothing.  Her hopes of a new life ends fall apart when she realises he will never let her live.  With Necrom unrelenting in his pursuit of her, Aryana is forced to make a decision about her future, a decision that could change the world.

Aryana - After fifty years of imprisoment, Aryana manages to escape but with her life hanging in the balance.  Physically weakened to the point of death, the dark witch collapses in an alley of an unsympathetic village. 

Necrom - Born a summoner, Necrom developed his gift to become a necromancer and hold power over the dead.  When he becomes aware of the dark witch's escapse, Necrom fears she will reveal his secret and seeks to kill her at any cost.

Lel - Banished from his hometown and losing the love of his life, Lel travels from town to town in solemn when he comes across Aryana.  When attacked by golems he saves her life believing she knows something that Necrom desires.

Melitta - The wife of Necrom and a dark sorceress in her own right, Melitta has a deep, personal hatred of Aryana.  Loves Necrom greatly and is pregnant with his child.

Killian - Having worked his way from a nameless orphan to the Head Knight of Dresaland's army, Killian's loyalty to the King who made him so know no bounds, until the King turns on him.  Pursued by his own men, Killian flees with Aryana and Lel to escape an unjust death.

Brackerd - A King ripped apart hundreds of years ago by his subjects, his body was annointed to become a summon for someone worthy of his strength and fearless nature.  Summoned by Necrom, Brackerd does his ruthless bidding with glee.

Thea - A young gypsy thrown out of her hometown by her stepmother Valda Cara.  Forced to forage in the wilderness, Thea struggles to stay alive.

Valda - A light sorceress and part succubus, her beauty is unparalleled and men fall in love with her in a single glance.  Her alliance to Necrom sees her as the wife of a Baron, despite her lack of enthusiasm for the task.

Celeste - Became a fallen angel after her great battle with Perditta.  Despite the loss of her wings, two fingers and an eye, for Celeste, it was her failure that produced her bitter and aggressive nature and developed an unquenchable desire to destroy Perditta, her rival.

Perditta - Similar to Celeste, Perditta became a fallen reaper with the loss of her wings, her voice and two fingers.  Her hatred of Celeste is unrivaled only in Celeste's hatred of her.  Though she is Queen of a city, she would sacrafice all her subjects for a final battle with her rival.

The first 4,000 words of my novel can be found here.

...still behind but getting there.  I've upped the word aim to 120,000 instead of 100,000 because I've passed the half way point and still not introduced two main characters, though this may (and probably will) change in the future.  Writing 100 words a day may sound pathetic but I'm writing every day and often doing more.  I'm getting the words on paper which is fantastic and I feel like I'm finally making progress.

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