As of four nights ago, I officially finished the first draft of my book. The feelings that go through my head are ones that I am not incredibly familiar with. Yes, I have had my fair share of victories and defeats, but this certain victory has left me breathless and in a bit of shock. I still don’t know how to react to it, even a few days after the initial, THE END.
I suppose that I can only summarize it as one of the many milestones that I am going to have to take during my life as a young adult and in many years as an older adult. I honestly didn’t think that this day would come, where, after all the times that I was saying that, “I am writing a book!”, to, where I can say, “I wrote a book!” I have dabbled in creative writing for about 4-5 years, reading and playing with the idea of becoming an author, even attempting the first few chapters of a book. But it wasn’t until about a year ago that I really buckled down and tried it. The first book, I dropped, this one, I have finished the first draft in about four months. Not too shabby, if I must say so.
*Sigh* I’m sure that it’s going to take a bit of time before I can overcome this feeling if disbelief and confidence. I know it’s only uphill from here, though and the trials are only going to get more difficult. It would be nieve of me to think that since I have finished this first step, that I am in the clear.
I’m still not positive what I want to call my book, however. I have two names that I kind of like, but they miss the snazzy catch to them. The first is, “Relance: Shattered” and the second is simply, “Fallen”.
I like these two for different reasons. The first one gives a bit more mystery than the second one does. I mean, when you read it, what goes through your head when you see it? Do you think, “Well, who or what is Relance? What is shattered? Someone’s soul, or is it a world consumed by war? All are things that come to my mind, however, my only gripe with it, is that it is a bit of a mouthful and doesn’t seem to flow very well. That is kind of why I liked Fallen. It’s simple, but it still encompasses the plot of the story fairly well.
My plot is as thus: Four people are living within a world that was incredibly prosperous. (Now ain’t that original!) However, it’s now at the end of it’s life and is in a slow decay. The gods that had ruled the four cities that are in the world had succumbed to their selfish desires and were thrown into a deep sleep. Well, without their gods to rule them, the people fell into decay as well. All of which turned into their own monsters. The cities took on personalities of their own and are now slowly falling apart. The four main characters have been spared from the fate of the denizens of the world for reasons that they are not aware of.
I took the idea of the four apocalyptic horsemen and made a bit of a twist on them in terms of how the people in the cities suffered. I think that it creates a real dire situation, but one that is also exciting and compelling. The characters are separated and are told from parallel story-lines. I think what keeps them linked together through their trials and sufferings is what really makes the story something worthwhile.
Now, I won’t go into all the details of how I made the theme of the four apocalyptic horsemen into something original, but when people read it, I think that they will be pleasantly surprised.
Anyway, what are everyone’s thoughts? Have any of you ever had accomplishments that have left you in a state of disbelief? If so, what were they?
shudderingwords 