The subconscious is a wonderful thing.

The other day I was writing a scene with a relatively new character in a relatively old world; I’ve written more in this world than anywhere else, though most of it has been in a limited area. The thing is, I thought I’d figured out the magic. My character, a wizard, had other ideas… in fact, she casually mentioned something that made several other pieces fit in ways I’d never thought of before.

I love it when that happens.

I’ve been writing quite a bit lately. Nothing terribly coherent; rather, it’s just been scenes that appear and demand to be written. They’re very persistant about it.

That happened this morning, in fact. It yanked me back to a story that’s been worrying me for a while, and that I’d put aside until I was ready to go farther with it. It’s the story about the priestess who has lost her god, for those of you who’ve read parts of it. I’d originally started it as a single novel, with a single protagonist. I started in the right place for that story. But it needed something else, so I gave the antagonist a few scenes, which triggered my problem: it was definitely not the right place to start his story. I didn’t realize this right away. No, that’s not true. What I didn’t realize was that I couldn’t tell her story unless I also told his.

In fact, I wrote half a book with that little squiggly not-right feeling growing each chapter. Then I tried to outline it into shape, but all that did was reinforce my feeling that if I gave my antagonist even half the time I was giving him I really needed to write a sequel. And then I realized that it was really his story I needed to tell, and I couldn’t do it unless I started at the beginning of his story, not the beginning of hers.

I put it away, because I didn’t know enough about his past for more than backstory, and it just doesn’t work when I rush that sort of thing. So it’s sat there, popping into my head at odd intervals, until today. When the… um… pre-climactic scene of the whole thing appeared and prodded me until I wrote it. And with it came the key scenes of the first section as well (though not quite as forcefully, which is good since I was already late leaving).

I thought the engineer story would be the next one I’d get back to after my little not-short-story diversion, but I’ll take this one as far as I can first.

Ok, I haven’t done so well with the blog. I’ll try again.

Well, I got to where I though my story could stand on its own, but I decided I’d like it better if I didn’t try to do that so I went back and added in the things I’d left out that were irrelevant for the, well, subplot, as it is now. And now I’m immersed in the cultures and the way they interact, which is a wonderfully enticing place in which I can lose myself for ages, and sometimes I have to force myself out of it and, y’know, actually write something.

Since I’ve already mentioned cultures… The more I think about this particular world, the more I think it may be in the same world as my engineer story (the one I started during nano last year). The magic is different but compatible, and while I don’t believe that the engineer’s people know of any non-human sentients it is certainly possible that there are some elsewhere. I’m not sure yet. I’m not sure it matters, either way, because they aren’t likely to come into contact. Though that too would be interesting, especially given the vastly different ‘technology’ levels of the cultures in question and the fact that neither’s magic will work on the other’s ground.

At any rate, I’ve been on something of a magic-from-the-living-earth kick lately. Rocks and mountains and caves earth, not Mother Nature earth, in case you’re wondering. Magic systems and their relationships to culture are also quite fascinating…

Probably an odd title, but so be it.

It shall be a short story, so say I. A long short story, granted. But I have a story arc that can end before too long, and I’ve only added one more character. Of course, the trick will be to make it sound like a real ending, and to keep complications from arising. The first I can do. The second? Well, that remains to be seen.

My first draft is definitely going to be too long, but, to look on the bright side, I’d rather have too much than not enough. I already have a list of things to look at removing, though it pains me to take away certain things that would go wonderfully in a novel. Anyway, I never throw anything away. If it sucks as a short story, then I’ll call it a learning experience and file it away in my too-large bunch of novels that want to be written someday.

Well, ok. I’ve written short stories.

But half the time–or more–when I start out thinking something will be a short story, it doesn’t stay one for long.

Case in point: I started writing this weekend, thinking I’d be done by now. It was a variation on an idea that I’ve had for years and had never gotten around to writing. A fantasy story, set in a new world (how many can one mind hold, anyway?) with, in my not-at-all-biased opinion, an interesting group of characters and cultures.

Well, I’m still writing. I tried very hard to keep my cast down to two characters, thinking that without a mob I could keep the story simpler. Ha. Ha ha. Now I’m trying to think how to turn it from the opening of a novel (or possibly novella… sorry Eisel, I’m a month early) into a short story. Maybe I’ll give up and let it be a novel.

But it would be nice to write something short and contained for a change.