And for My Next Amazing Novel...
Friday, February 27. 2009
I was thinking about the plot of Bring Me to Life this morning—in the shower, as is my wont—and I realized I won't be answering all the questions about the novel's reality before the end of the book. What's the real nature of Srrmhr (the daemon)? Where did the Devil come from? What happened to the Slow Ones? What are the "ghosts" that inhabit Hades—it seems clear they're not really souls, so what are they? These are some basic aspects of the setting that I don't think we'll ever get around to addressing; they'll remain mysteries.
This situation cries "sequel" to me.
Now, let's lay aside the hubris embodied in even the thought of producing a follow-on to my unpublished first novel. Let's say it might actually happen. That scares me a little bit, because of this: Even if the reader never learns all the answers, I have to know them. And I have to know them now, before the first novel of the trilogy—such fantasy!—is published.
I've often wondered whether George Lucas knew, back when he was penning A New Hope, that many of his main characters were related. Perhaps he was standing in the shower one day after the first movie was in the can, and experienced that flash of, "Now that would be cool!" I've never heard a definitive answer, but I've always strongly suspected the shower scene is the way it went down. If so, it was a happy accident that everything in Episode IV supported the later development of the plot.
The reason I need to understand my story's multiverse down to the quark level (no, really, it does come up) is that I don't want to have something published as "canon," and then have to figure out how to work around any unfortunate choices I might have made. Admittedly, that could be a fun challenge. But I'd prefer to have everything worked out from the start, for complete, unyielding consistency.
So I'm thinking I should be plotting not just this first novel, but the whole tetralogy. Because, if the first novel gets picked up, I have many more tales I could tell in this universe. Unlike my other current effort, 200 PC, which is clearly going to be a standalone story with no potential that I can see for a sequel, BMtL could conceivably live for a long time. I've fallen in love with the setting and with the characters, and I could take them to many, many places.
Of course, it's enough of a task to completely plot just the first novel in this potential series of five. I haven't even finished that yet. But once I have the first draft of this book in hand, I'll review and revise it with an eye toward making sure I haven't hindered myself in any way for the six or seven other books that may follow.
I'll probably have to get an agent somewhere in there, too. Hope she's an ambitious one.
I was thinking about the plot of Bring Me to Life this morning—in the shower, as is my wont—and I realized I won't be answering all the questions about the novel's reality before the end of the book. What's the real nature of Srrmhr (the daemon)? Where did the Devil come from? What happened to the Slow Ones? What are the "ghosts" that inhabit Hades—it seems clear they're not really souls, so what are they? These are some basic aspects of the setting that I don't think we'll ever get around to addressing; they'll remain mysteries.
This situation cries "sequel" to me.
Now, let's lay aside the hubris embodied in even the thought of producing a follow-on to my unpublished first novel. Let's say it might actually happen. That scares me a little bit, because of this: Even if the reader never learns all the answers, I have to know them. And I have to know them now, before the first novel of the trilogy—such fantasy!—is published.
I've often wondered whether George Lucas knew, back when he was penning A New Hope, that many of his main characters were related. Perhaps he was standing in the shower one day after the first movie was in the can, and experienced that flash of, "Now that would be cool!" I've never heard a definitive answer, but I've always strongly suspected the shower scene is the way it went down. If so, it was a happy accident that everything in Episode IV supported the later development of the plot.
The reason I need to understand my story's multiverse down to the quark level (no, really, it does come up) is that I don't want to have something published as "canon," and then have to figure out how to work around any unfortunate choices I might have made. Admittedly, that could be a fun challenge. But I'd prefer to have everything worked out from the start, for complete, unyielding consistency.
So I'm thinking I should be plotting not just this first novel, but the whole tetralogy. Because, if the first novel gets picked up, I have many more tales I could tell in this universe. Unlike my other current effort, 200 PC, which is clearly going to be a standalone story with no potential that I can see for a sequel, BMtL could conceivably live for a long time. I've fallen in love with the setting and with the characters, and I could take them to many, many places.
Of course, it's enough of a task to completely plot just the first novel in this potential series of five. I haven't even finished that yet. But once I have the first draft of this book in hand, I'll review and revise it with an eye toward making sure I haven't hindered myself in any way for the six or seven other books that may follow.
I'll probably have to get an agent somewhere in there, too. Hope she's an ambitious one.
This situation cries "sequel" to me.
Now, let's lay aside the hubris embodied in even the thought of producing a follow-on to my unpublished first novel. Let's say it might actually happen. That scares me a little bit, because of this: Even if the reader never learns all the answers, I have to know them. And I have to know them now, before the first novel of the trilogy—such fantasy!—is published.
I've often wondered whether George Lucas knew, back when he was penning A New Hope, that many of his main characters were related. Perhaps he was standing in the shower one day after the first movie was in the can, and experienced that flash of, "Now that would be cool!" I've never heard a definitive answer, but I've always strongly suspected the shower scene is the way it went down. If so, it was a happy accident that everything in Episode IV supported the later development of the plot.
The reason I need to understand my story's multiverse down to the quark level (no, really, it does come up) is that I don't want to have something published as "canon," and then have to figure out how to work around any unfortunate choices I might have made. Admittedly, that could be a fun challenge. But I'd prefer to have everything worked out from the start, for complete, unyielding consistency.
So I'm thinking I should be plotting not just this first novel, but the whole tetralogy. Because, if the first novel gets picked up, I have many more tales I could tell in this universe. Unlike my other current effort, 200 PC, which is clearly going to be a standalone story with no potential that I can see for a sequel, BMtL could conceivably live for a long time. I've fallen in love with the setting and with the characters, and I could take them to many, many places.
Of course, it's enough of a task to completely plot just the first novel in this potential series of five. I haven't even finished that yet. But once I have the first draft of this book in hand, I'll review and revise it with an eye toward making sure I haven't hindered myself in any way for the six or seven other books that may follow.
I'll probably have to get an agent somewhere in there, too. Hope she's an ambitious one.
Jimmy Anderson on :
But anyway, yes, I believe that Vader was ALWAYS Luke's father. He's also said that the one constant in all nine movies would be the droids, and we would be seeing the story unfold, in a sense, through their eyes. Did he know Ani built 3PO? Not sure. Did he know Leia was adopted? I think so.
Brent on :
Craig on :
Brent on :
The point pondered by this post is whether it makes sense to plan for the possibility of sequels within a rich setting when one has never even had a book published. I'm trying to be "proactive."
Craig on :