His Ghosts Will Invade Puerto Rico (Day 293)

I'm finally taking the time to compile my story into one massive document. I had originally planned to use Word to do this, but I think I'm going to use Google Drive instead. This allows me to access it from anywhere and more easily share it with others if need be. I'll also keep a somewhat up to date copy on my computer, just in case something happens. After I've finished compiling it, I'm going to do a word count. I'm pretty curious to see just how much I've written so far. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the one section I've rewritten. Should I include both for now or try to insert it in the spot I believe it belongs? The rewritten section doesn't exactly follow everything that has happened thus far, so I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to handle it. I might just decide to go ahead and throw both in there for the time being.

Alright, that didn't end up taking quite as long as I thought it might. I decided to omit the rewritten section for now. It's under a different tag (writing (rewriting)) so I missed it completely. I will still definitely look back at it to see if it's the direction I want to go in, but it's still pretty likely I'll rewrite once again using that as a guide. I know for sure that I'm going to more or less redesign Aisen from the ground up with a better idea of what his backstory should be.

So far, my story consists of 46,301 words, which is roughly 180 pages if closely conforming to industry standards. This is already as long as some books, but considering the genre, I'm probably shooting for something closer to 100,000 words. I don't think the eventual number matters much in the end, but if for some reason I was trying to get myself published, it would be best to shoot for a tidy, manageable number. Even for a fantasy publication, long-winded first works are typically overlooked. I have no illusions that I'm a strong enough writer to get published, but if I do end up with a final draft that I consider to be polished--why not give it a shot? There would be no harm in trying.

Even if what I have so far is a disorganized mess (and believe me, it is), I'm proud that I have written so much. I haven't done things like that since I was in early high school or even middle school. These were times I felt like I really had a passion for writing. It captured my imagination and fulfilled me in ways that I have had a hard time replicating. I'm starting to get that feeling back and it's really great. Even though I've accomplished something really good here, I think I can do much better. 

I'm going to try to avoid going back and relentlessly editing myself too much at this point. I plan on rewriting Aisen's introduction and some of the ensuing events just because I plan for him to be pivotal to the story, but other than that, I'm going to try to soldier on. I want to hammer down all of the important events for the story and plot out a strong beginning, middle, and end. The story needs a strong conclusion that doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility of a continuation. Fantasy stories are about building a world that lives on forever. Fantasy series tend to continue for long, long periods of time--and that's what I want to happen here. I want this first story to be self contained, but I don't want the world to stop at the end, either.

What I'm planning to do here will be challenging. It will stretch whatever writing talent I have to the breaking point, but that's what needs to happen. I need to get out of my comfort zone and really try to take my writing to the next level. If it's important for me to be creative in some away in my life, then I need to give it my all. I need to make the most of this.