Yeah, yeah, it sounds corny and cliche. Who hasn't been touted as the "next Tolkien"? (not that I have) But in all honesty, I really do owe my first serious writing endeavor to him.
Way back when - I was 11 - I read "The Lord of the Rings" for the first time. It was pretty tough, let us say. But the two scenes that really stuck with me after that were the throwing of the heads into Minas Tirith and when Frodo awakes in the secret base to find Faramir standing over him, ready to take him to see Smeagol.
The first was just a scary image, but the second was the springboard of my writing career.
I had written things before as a little kid, but that scene just somehow piqued my muse. I wanted to write a serious story - one that would make people feel the way that I did when I first read that scene. So I did.
Or at least tried to do so. "The Sphere and the Singer" has long since fallen away into the realm of the bottom drawer, though I do intend one day to resurrect the characters for perhaps another project.
But that experience taught me much and now I am at it again with my latest project, "Ocean of Fire." I finished the rough draft on the 7th of September, 2007, and now I am beginning the 2nd draft. O.O
I am one of those people who have been classified as 'blank-pages', 'free-writers', and my own personal favorite (because I made it up): 'flighty writers.' I sit down, without any outlining beyond whatever idea was in my head, and I write. Outlines stifle me, I loathe character charts. I have to start with a blank sheet. Then I sit and write out the entire first draft: no cuts, no revision, no looking back. When I am finally done, I can look back... and usually gag. There are no end to the mistakes and other guck. So now I am diving back in, sleeves rolled up and hair pulled back, ready to tear that garbage out by the roots.
*dramatic silence*
It all began with character slaughter. Several main viewpoint characters fell before my mighty editing sythe of DOOM and story lines were hacked to pieces. Now I stand among the carnage and have to sweep the gore off of a place that I think is suitable to start again. From there, I will have to tunnel through the piles of shattered story material and find those remnants which are still salvagable.
I love this part. I can go through with the mighty red pen and with a single swipe, can delete entire scenes of nothingness and with a few scribbles, can flush a chapter with new life. So yeah, I am understandably excited... *quivers*
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