Step 1: How to start writing a book in one month

(this is all part of the One Novel Three-Month challenge. Click here for more info)

SO IT BEGINS.

I posted on all the socials. And this is where the magic begins.

For I have the start of the novel. Tentative title is: The Liberation or The Company

And here are the opening lines:

Seen through the smudged lenses of the looking glass, the towering black walls of The Obsidian City remind me of the books I devoured as a child. I cannot help thinking of how, three hundred years ago, these walls were the greatest wonder on the continent of Ur, utterly impregnable, a testament to the strength of the Twilight Empire and its infinite wealth.

But that was three hundred years ago, and this is today.

And today, the walls of the Obsidian City must fall.

So yes, it is fantasy. Literature it is not. The names aren't great. I am notoriously terrible at names, whereas George R Martin says he can't even write a character without first knowing their name. But what the hell does he know?

The story is inspired by John Company, the board game, and if for some esoteric reason you're knowledgeable about that game you'll be able to guess what the story is about. That or you're literally from my board game group (salut, nerd-corp).

I posted on social too, Facebook and Instagram, wow. I even started a Ko-Fi? Which I only heard about yesterday? It is, also, ironically, my first day back at my day job since I had my thyroid removed last week. Awesome to embark on this project while catching up on a week of work, nay?

Yesterday I wrote about how day one would be a free flow brunch, but that's because I thought it was Friday, because I am silly. I do not go to free flow brunches on Friday, as a general rule.

Starting something is probably the easiest part of writing, if you ask me. I think we all have ideas, orphaned paragraphs, concepts we've whittled away at for sometimes years, and then we can finally commit them to paper only to ask, 'what happens next?' So frankly, this is the easiest part of the whole damn process. It's only going to get trickier.

Also, three human beings know that I'm working on something I already started, though I have a very rough draft of chapter one to go by only, and it was more of a short story. I wanted to confess as much, pater forgiveth me.

I'm rewriting it, and aiming for 2k words a day or so. Which today at least, I have accomplished, my friends.

I'm toying with whether to post drafts of chapters on the site. If anyone has an opinion on it, do feel free to increase my engagement, shit, I mean comment. I have to say posting on social was less terrifying than I thought, especially because my wonderful wife knows how to actually use it.

But already the discouragement is burgeoning. How many likes? How many shares? How many comments? But shit, they didn't subscribe! What am I doing wrong? What can I do better? Etcetera, etcetera.

Its hard enough doing something creative, there's internal critics as there are, and pessimistic editors abound inside my skull, that adding to it the external pressures of expecting validation can be a bit much. But I figure that if I keep writing, as quickly as I can, and post as often as I can, and create a deluge of content, then I won't be able to care enough about who is keeping up in the first place.

But to the first subbers and commentors, whether on the socials or the site, you have my profound thanks. To the snarky commentors, I've sent hitmen to your houses, they are currently enroute. I explained that they are to look under bridges and for statues during daylight hours. Shit yo'selves.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I am at a disadvantage, as BallerIndustries have a proven track record of actually selling content, whereas I have one for producing copious amounts of content and performing most of it live, which like, passes by like a leaf on the wind man.

I have a friend who is obsessed with opening lines of novels, and I have to admit, he has a point. Sometimes I think, in this age of distraction, that grabbing someone by the hem of their dress and pulling their eyeballs over to your content is an act of sheer desperation. Everything needs to be clickbait right? But you know, maybe its okay to settle for not appealing to every g-damn reader, listener and content-devourer. Maybe its okay to just accept that you'll appeal to Those Who Have The Same Taste, and that there is value to that. It used to be that I wanted to appeal to everyone, but the more I write, the more I want to linger, and allow the story to unfold more slowly, and invite in people who are intrigued rather than competing with the latest Love Island for their attention.

I'm currently shopping around my novel, Children of the Pantheon, and I made the decision to cut the pacey prologue, which I have gone over at least 20 times, and includes a fight scene, a character death (as if you care about someone you just met, right?) and magic and all that. Instead I'm sticking with a slower chapter one, which is about religion and philosophy and the desperate dreams of an orphan.

Because, as in dating, you can fake the shit out of your personality to reel someone in, but they'll have to fall in love with your authentic self. Maybe the same is true for a good story. If you're going to be rejected, best get it over with.

Maybe. I'm not an expert. All I am is a dude who writes a lot o' words.

Thanks for reading,thanks for the support, and subscribe if you haven't already!

And write on.

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