Black Waltz (Day 305)

I am conflicted about Strands lately. I've written so much more content than I'd ever expected, but the tone and quality are inconsistent as all hell. I think some segments are quite well written, but others just drag and drag. I run out of steam frequently because I have very little idea where I'm going with all this. I have so many ideas, but I don't know how to implement them!

One of my main problems lies in the fact that I'm actually pretty terrible at world building. I don't have enough practical knowledge of legacy technology, nature, geography, and that kind of thing to craft a believable world. What I wanted to focus a lot more on is interactions between characters--but considering the fact that 95% of the story thus far has been concerned with travel, details about their surroundings become pretty important. Let's not forget the people of Tombolin or of Jiendo either. I still don't have a clear idea of how those cities or their cultures work.

I remember when I was a lot younger and writing about Dalkaen and his journies, I had a relatively detailed map drawn of the entire continent. It was very rarely relevant to the plot, but it really did help me to keep it all straight in my head. I wonder if I should do something like that again. I don't have a clue what program I'd use considering my lack of artistic talent. I used to literally draw these maps in MS Paint but I'm not sure I quite have the patience for that at this point.

At this point in Strands, a lot of things are meant to be unclear and mysterious to the reader. Unfortunately, they're also pretty mysterious to me. The author should at least have a pretty good idea of what's going on, but I really don't. I have a lot of ideas and theories, but I can't write like I don't know what's going to happen. If that's true, then I can't use foreshadowing at all--and the pace of the story meanders and loses itself in pointlessness.

I think there is a nugget of a story here that I can use; I firmly believe that. Once I have refined and expanded the elements that shine while pruning the elements that don't work, I think I could potentially end up with a quality piece of work at some point. Getting there will be difficult, though, and I'm unsure exactly how to proceed at this point. I guess for now I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing. I'm going to keep writing and writing and hope that some of what I produce makes some sort of sense. Eventually, I'll get to the point where I can hack away at this massive document and make something good, but I'll have to settle for now for something wild and unpolished.