The Birth of a Novel

Fueled by Starbucks, I sat down at the computer and resumed worked on Creatures. The working title is actually Creatures of Knucklehead City, but that's purely to keep me amused until I come up with the real name.

Anyway, I've got to say I'm pretty happy with it so far. It's a true Young Adult urban fantasy, about mythological creatures living among us. The protagonist is a sixteen-year-old attending a city high school. Oh, and he isn't human. Here's a snippet from chapter one:
------------------

I fingered the stone hanging from the black rope around my neck. “Hey there. So my name is Zydeco, and I am a recovering mythological creature.”

Oh, yes it’s true. Now, here comes the part that cracks me up.

As one out-of-tune voice, they answered, “Hello, Zydeco.”

It didn’t used to make me laugh, but after hearing it about eight hundred times, it gives me a chuckle. I swear, sometimes I think they’re sheep -- the weird, legendary kind that flies and craps rubies. Don’t get me wrong, I think these guys are great and everything. They’ve been there and done that, and for a heck of a lot longer than I have.

------------------

There are a couple of things I'm loving about Creatures so far. First, this is really a character driven story. You need to understand that this is big for me. The Children Of Midian is commercial fiction. It is plot driven. I had the story in mind before I knew my characters. I've still got more books in the Midian series to write, and they driven by plot. Granted, I know the characters much better now.

Before I wrote one word of Creatures, I went into meticulous detail (for me) about each of the characters, and as I did so, I found the relationships developing and as a result, the plot developed. This is pretty cool. The characters are wicked fun for me right from the start.

Second, I've written Creatures in first person. I am constantly in Zydeco's head, and it's an awesome place to be. This is so much fun! Of course, I haven't hit that spot in the book where I'm used to zooming off into the the bad guy's head. I'll need to figure out a way to make the evildoer three dimensional from Zydeco's point of view.

Lastly, being a pop culture aficionado and a movie buff, there are small influences all over the place, from Ghostbusters to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Here's where it gets interesting, faithful reader.

LOL - What a Stephen King thing to say. I'm so ashamed.

Anyway, here's where it gets interesting. As Creatures evolves, I'm going update this blog with bits of info about each chapter. It could be about how the characters are developing or how the plot is moving. I might talk about the fun or I might talk about the frustration or at least the challenges I'm facing. I might even drop a few hints.

So, if you check back, you'll get to experience the slow birth of a novel. It should be fun!

Go on to the next post in Birth of a Novel.