So I’m back to blogging after having taken an even longer break from this place than my previous one. What have I been up to? I’m glad you asked, imaginary person! In my last blog I wrote a bit about coming up with ideas for a third novel; not the follow-up to Legacy of Memory (2014 note: this became A Memory in the Black), but rather an entirely unconnected stand-alone with something of a different tone than what I’ve written for novels before. As I said, working with an entirely blank slate is both freeing and frustrating. As I write this, I’m sitting in a Barnes & Noble café having just finished the step-sheet for what I hope to be a darned amusing book.

In case you’re wondering, the step-sheet is basically a rough outline of the scenes (or at least the general happenings) of the plot and character development. Before I did that, I had to come up with the whole freaking premise of the setting (which wasn’t TOO hard, as it’s actually set in the present day with one liiiiittle difference–and no, I’m not telling what that is yet), at least a general idea of what the major characters are like (I’m fairly sure about most of the details now on those, but they still need the breath of life that only actually writing the book will give, I think), and the whole darned premise of the story. The step-sheet helps me to make sure all the Chekhov’s guns are in place, the exposition is portioned out properly (without being overwhelming), and helps me to see where possible problems are–or at least realize what sort of details I still need to come up with.

This particular novel is going to be…somewhat less serious than my previous ones. I suppose, given the stakes involved, it may be considered “epic,” but it’s my plan to thumb my nose at such things and have little or no respect for my own work. …If that makes sense. Actually, it doesn’t, but oh well. A better way of putting it is that this novel is not going to be taking itself seriously–at least that’s the plan. It won’t be entirely comedy, either. If anyone’s read my short story “Playing With Hubris” or maybe even “Finding Victor,” that would be something akin to the mix of humor that I’m going for. But I suppose I’ll know more once I start the actual writing and find the right voice.

Choosing just HOW to start the book is giving me some trouble, though. I’ve got two different options, and while I think one might be a better hook plot-wise, it doesn’t involve any of the main characters. I need to talk over my ideas with some folks and see what they think, because right now I’m rather torn.

It’s my goal to write this one a LOT faster than the previous two, which will take a bit of discipline on my part. I suppose that’s part of why I’m really taking care to line up all of my ducks at the moment so once the actual writing starts, I know the characters, I know the details of the setting and everyone’s agenda…and I can just shove everyone into the arena and let them do their thing.

…And if anyone gets out of hand, I’ll zap ’em with a lightning bolt.

The 5,000 or so of you out there who read this blog without commenting (and I know you’re out there! Don’t try to deny me my fantasy, you imaginary people!) may have noticed I haven’t written in a little bit. It’s a side-effect of a week-long writing break I’ve been on until, well, today. (Bonus points if you can guess when I started.)

A quick writing update: While I wrote an ending to Legacy of Memory at the end of June, I’ve since been tweaking and rewriting, little by little. This is based both on my own general read-throughs as well as comments from a few people I’ve got reading. (Thanks again to you three, by the way. And Joe? Hurry up with those final chapters!) A couple of weeks ago, having gotten to a place where I didn’t want to tweak any more until I heard back from said readers, I decided to turn my attention toward writing something else.

This wound up presenting a problem as my momentum from trying to finish one book carried over into my trying to start another, and like a rollerblader who speeds down a hill off of smooth cement into mud, my creative feet got tripped up plowing through the thickness of an as yet undreamt-of plot and sent the rest of my creative body hurling head over heels into the writing miasma…or something. Clearly the metaphor’s buckling under it’s own weight here, but you get the idea. So I opted to take a week off, not think about ANYthing related to writing, publishing, or blogging, and just let my brain reboot itself a little.

So I’m back! Now for those of you wondering about what the new book is about, the short answer is I’m not sure. I’ve always said that Legacy of Memory was only the second in a three-book arc, so it would make sense that I’d now be working on the third and final book, right? Ha! Shows what you know. I’m the guy who came up with the battery-powered battery recharger and once folded an 10′ origami crane on the middle of the UW campus at 2am, so if you’re expecting me to make sense all the time, rabbit football doodlewhomp.

While it is possible that the next book I write will be a sequel to A Shadow in the Flames and Legacy of Memory (and I’ve always liked the title Here Be Dragons for that one, but who knows?), I may instead try to publish a single, stand-alone book that will hopefully get me further into the publishing world than I currently am and thus help get more attention to the three-book series. The up-side of writing something completely new is that the utterly blank slate gives me a chance to scratch some creative itches that I haven’t yet been able to explore in novel form. The down-side is that it’s an UTTERLY BLANK SLATE! So for the moment I’m mostly in what Terry Brooks would call the dreaming stage, which essentially involves a lot of walking into things while pondering my creative options (when I’m not in a café doing the same thing only sitting down and caffinated). It’s both fun and frustrating, which I suppose describes a lot of things in life.

I’ve got a few ideas that I’m working on exploring, but no one thing that I’ve decided on. I suppose I could tell you at least one: rabbit football doodlewhomp.

…I’m probably not going to go with that one.

Michael G. Munz
www.michaelgmunz.com

(Technorati tags: writing, fiction, Legacy of Memory)