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Building a Fantasy World
I have decided to take a break from Hive for five - six months to focus on other writing.
This is not a decision that I have taken lightly, but one that is necessary.
Due to the pressures of health issues, freelance writing deadlines and other commitments that pay the bills, I have realized that the time commitments of running a hive community has been destroying my quality of life. The constant pressure to produce content for my blog, and a community page, were exacerbating my health issues and leaving me no energy for anything else.
I left university in 2007 with a 2/1 (69% mark, one percent shy of a first class degree) in imaginative writing. My dream was to write a gritty fantasy trilogy. The core concepts of the fantasy setting are already solidified. In my sub-creation notes I have the two main characters detailed, a unique setting mapped out, a brief history of the three nations where the story is set, political climate and a twist on magic that hasn't been seen in the fantasy genre before.
Planning and writing a fantasy trilogy means immersing yourself totally in the world you're creating. The constant pull on my attention that blogging brings constitutes a huge distraction from entering that place of focus. Some people might have the time and energy to do both, but I certainly don't with the health issues I have to deal with. Multitasking was never my strong suit 😂
After halting my blogging activities three weeks ago I've written 30000 words, mainly solidifying the sub-creation and world building behind the three nations where the story is set. Maps, family trees, world history, political climate, details of magic system, creatures, races and monsters etc. There is so much sub-creation work before the actual chapter writing that you can get lost in it if you're not careful. In addition to all this I've planned out the rise and fall of the actions/circumstances that drive the main plot for the first novel and where the main characters will fit into all this based on key crisis points in the narrative.
This level of sub-creation may sound like procrastination to some people, but in the case of fantasy fiction this level of planning is essential to create a vivid and believable fantasy world. It is impossible to fly by the seat of your pants... unless you have an eidetic memory 😉
All in all it is starting to come together and I'm approaching the point where I am ready to get started on the first chapter. Wish me luck, as I will be entering into the world I have created fully and may not emerge for some time.
For anyone who is interested in fantasy fiction, I have written a few stories on steem/hive set in my fantasy world. The first of the three linked below is the most complete and tells the origin story of one of the main characters in my novel. Check them out if you want a sneak peak into the rich fantasy world I am creating.
Click image to visit The Ink Well community page
The Ink Well - The Beating Heart of Creative Writing on Hive
In January 2020 I started The Ink Well creative writing community as a dedicated place for rewarding high quality fiction and poetry. After a lot of hard work networking I secured curation from the two major guilds on hive, @curie and @ocd.
However, I've struggled with keeping the content flowing from The Ink Well community account over the past three months as chronic health issues, along with fighting off Corona Virus, have knocked me completely out of commission. This chronic health condition, SIBO, remains a constant issue in my life and after recovering from CV the intensity of the symptoms from SIBO have become worse.
It is for these reasons, as well as financial concerns, that I need to step away from Hive. May 2020 was the first time I have struggled to fulfill important (IRL) freelance writing deadlines that make up a large part of my monthly living expenses. If I had lost these commissions I wouldn't have been able to pay my rent, and would have been out on the streets.
The truth is that it is extremely time consuming running a community like The Ink Well, and I had to make the difficult decision to prioritize my work outside of Hive along with my health and greater writing goals for the future.
But there is no need to despair.
The Ink Well hasn't gone anywhere 😉
Three weeks ago, when I took the decision that I needed to leave hive and give up managing The Ink Well, I spent a week networking and found the perfect replacement for the active admin role at the head of a small team of four. This transition has ensured that the community will move from strength to strength.
@shanibeer has done an exceptional job as @theinkwell admin, working alongside @stormlight24 @jayna and @carolkean. Together they have set up a summer program of weekly creative prompts for both poetry and fiction, as well as more clearly defining the curation criteria for the community.
Shani is a long term contributor on steem/hive, a great creative writer and has been involved in literary projects outside of this blockchain. Throughout the process of organizing this transition, I've come to realize how lucky I've been to find someone who holds very similar visions and goals as I do for The Ink Well.
My intentions in setting up this community were all about encouraging/rewarding high quality creative writing on Hive, and engaging with the wider writing community to help grow this platform.
Just in case anyone is concerned about the community curation model, I can reassure you all that The Ink Well remains a @curie supported community. Both me and @stormlight24 are curie curators, so @stormlight24 has ensured that the community remains supported by @curie.
The Ink Well summer prompt posts now fully explain how the community assesses creative writing, both poetry and fiction. These criteria provide clear and concise explanation as to how poems and stories are judged/rewarded. These were formulated by Shani, and all of the team have approved them, including myself. In reviewing the curation criteria I am certain that they represent a high standard of creative writing based upon my knowledge and experience completing a university degree in the subject.
Yesterday I filled a 24 week dlease for 10000 HP from my account to @curie curation guild to ensure that my Hive power goes toward rewarding high quality content. This lease will also allow me to keep supporting great content in The Ink Well community through our proxy curie curation.
I hope you have enjoyed the creative prompts and engagement initiatives I have put out during my time as administrator at The Ink Well. I have enjoyed reading the fantastic poetry and short stories that the community have written.
I hope to return to Hive in the future when/if my health improves. Hopefully as a published author promoting my book and creative writing in general.
Many thanks for reading.
I would like to invite any lovers of poetry and short stories to visit the new hive community started by @raj808, run by @shanibeer & @stormlight24 called The Ink Well.
Also, with the advent of https://hive.vote/ it is now possible to follow The Ink Well curation trail on Hive blockchain. It works just the same as steemauto; simply navigate to the curation trail section and search for theinkwell (all one word with no @ symbol) and our trail will pop up as an option.
Similarly delegations are possible on Hive using the fantastic https://peakd.com/ Hive Blockchain front end. If you wish to delegate to @theinkwell that supports creative writing on Hive by voting all of our contributors, you can do this from the wallet section of https://peakd.com/
A big thank you to all delegators:
@felt.buzz @iamraincrystal @kaelci @riverflows @shanibeer @trucklife-family
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Shared in the twitter-sphere for ocd's #posh initiative.
Good luck @raj808 hope to see you back on Hive soon! 😊😊
Thanks @iamraincrystal
I might turn up every few months with a short story or poem but generally I need to put my money where my mouth is, and stay away so as not to get distracted from finishing this novel on scrivener and editing it to submit to agents.
Good luck with everything and I'll probably be back around November 2020 to see how everything with hive is going 🙂👍
Your health always comes first Rowan.
Glad to hear you're making inroads in to this novel trilogy of yours, sounds like it's going to be epic and hope they turn it into a movie!
Catch you on Discord sometime 🙂
muchas gracias amigo for all your support over the last few years. For sure I'll hit you up on discord now and then 🙂
Defo... if I can get all the pieces of the puzzle together and finish it and edit it to a high standard it could be a winner. The best thing to get a flavor for it is that link I shared to the story The Gelded One. Although the magic system has grown and developed a lot since I wrote that story it is the closest thing I've written on steem/hive that stays true to the world as it is mapped out now.
I wanna get a movie, a HBO series and all the trimmings lol... but first it's time to knuckle down and do the hard work.
You're welcome man, you've supported me tons so it's the least I can do too! You know where to find me!
I'll be checking out the Gelded One with a fresher head to give it the attention it deserves! Great aims you have mate, keep those in mind to help motivate you to awesomeness!
Best wishes. We'll be here to welcome you back when you're done with your magnum opus!
Cheers @gwilberiol
Nice to know m8. At the end of the day it's one of the great things about steem/hive. Usually there are gonna be people you know, who also share your interests, still here on hive enjoying the community when you return.
I hope this is gonna be a short 6 month sojourn... but if the editing/redrafting process sucks me in and there is loads of plot holes to sort out etc it might end up being longer. Still, I need to put my money where my mouth is, and stay away from hive so as not to get distracted from finishing this novel on scrivener and editing it to submit to agents.
Nice to have got to know you and your writing on FTS in the @bananafish community m8 🙂
I hope you will get better and have the time you want for your creative writing
Many thanks @creativemary
I'm at the stage now where I need to prioritize and put my money where my mouth is staying away from hive so as not to get distracted from finishing this novel on scrivener and editing it to submit to agents.
Nice to have met you. I just checked out your blog and have followed you so as to see your posts when I return lol
Probably not until Q4 2020 but I shall return then to see how everyone is doing on hive 🙂
Take your time, creativity needs your full attention. Hive and the right people will always be there for you.
While social media is a great tool to the job of being an artist, social media is not at all good for actually making art. Take your time and let others fill out the gap so you can get back to what is important. Resting, creating, living.
Yeah man... you hit the nail on the head here. It is a massive distraction, but when I've been healthy and in high power mode in the past the time it takes writing and commenting on hive/steem has not been a problem. But with limited energy it becomes a drain on a limited supply of creative drive.
The real eye opener for me was last month when I nearly lost two regular commissioned freelance writing gigs that make up a third of my monthly income! The editors weren't happy with my drafts, and I'd left myself little time before deadline for re-writes. This wasn't the first time this happened so I had to say to them 'I assure you this won't happen again because I'm dropping something else to make the time to submit decent quality work well before deadline.' Unfortunately regular writing on Hive was what I needed to drop. I am lucky that I have understanding editors I work with. Stricter editors would have just ditched me.
Thanks for the words of encouragement and understanding @katharsisdrill 🙂
Your health is way more important that creativing content for Hive!
Get well :D
Thanks @cwow2
Yeah, I am focusing on my health and well being now while keeping to deadlines that I need to fulfill to pay the rent.
What I love about the hive community is that the vast majority of people are supportive and understanding 🙂👍
Ofcause the money have to come in somewhere I get that :D
But health is more important, but good to hear that you are focusing on your health and ofcause the deadlines :D
True! Most people are :D
This post has clarified a few things that my constant disappearance hasn't allowed me to follow on your blog. I think you should take a rest and create what you need to. I would love to have a read when you get back :)
May healing find your bones ♡
Thank you @tezmel
Yeah, this decision is mainly about finding extra time to look after health and removing some stresses from my life to help move in the direction I need to go :-)
When I return I shall definitely be sharing what I've been doing. even if it is only to promote my book... fingers crossed 🤞
An awesome desicion at that... ailing minds and bodies never produced anything!
Patiently waiting 🤞
I can totally relate
Multi-tasking isn't my greatest either
But can I just say - like
WOW!!
YOu trilogy sounds so intriguing. Didn't think there'd be so much work going into putting a novel together.
And I totally get you need to immerse yourself in that world. like Wow!!
All the best with the trilogy! Cannot wait to see what's it all about.
And please take good care of you.
Hi @kaerpediem
I shall be sure to take good care of my health from now on :)
Yeah, with fantasy it takes a lot of preparatory work to create something that is worthy of mainstream publishing. For example, George R R Martin (writer behind game of thrones) had hundreds of thousands of words of sub-creation (planning and world building) already written before he wrote the saga that game of thrones was based upon. The trick with fantasy is that their has to be some type of internal logic behind the magic, world and fantastical creatures that are in the setting. Even if you don't explicitly mention it all in the books, the fact that it is all there in your mind (and notes) while you're writing it makes the world believable throughout the course of the 90000 words that make up a paperback novel. If you make it up as you go along mistakes and factual holes emerge all over the place as the systems within the setting have no solid basis to rest upon. It is a real labor of love, and the best fantasy writers like J R R Tolkien and Ursula Le Guin immerse themselves in the worlds they create to such an extent that they know the characters and landscape intimately.
It is this level of commitment I need to give this undertaking and I need every spare hour of the day to do it justice :)
90k words!!!
All the best @raj808
I cannot wait to see what you have
I just know it is going to be amazing :D
And I can proudly tell people I knew you before :p
I find myself, from time to time, recalling the gelded one, such a well woven and impactful story. I can't wait to see the wider world it is a hint of.
I often think of the classic and great authors, and how they would cope in the modern social world. So many of them essentially disappeared from the world to write, staying in seclusion for months and being able to immerse themselves completely in their worlds without being pulled away. It's easy to underestimate how much giving to others, making space and time to fully understand their world and writing, takes, along with how much headspace helps grow a story. You have helped a lot of people grow their imagination gardens, I'm really happy you are taking some time for your own. I hope balance and physical wellness find you there, and very much look forward to your return, and to hopefully being at least one of the first 100 to preorder your book 😉
Ha ha, I think that social media is enough to boil anyone's head, let alone authors of a bygone age who have never come across it before. I think it is all a matter of perspective, and I'm not against soc media and platforms like hive... I just don't have the energy or focus for them while trying to find that intensity that I need for a mammoth writing project like a fantasy trilogy. It is also possible that I'm something of a dinosaur... but tbf it is all to do with my health why I can't keep up 9-10 hour days.
Thank you @letalis-laetitia, I hope to return with much fanfare and self promotion for these books 😉 It might take a while because I'm holding out for agent interest once they're edited to my satisfaction. Self publishing is what it is... a lot of extra work on top of the business of writing. If my fiction doesn't cut the mustard for mainstream publishing then I'll move on and consider a new career. This was always my plan and it is time to put it in to action. Should have done it straight out of uni to be honest.
Thanks for being a great and inspiring writer friend on here x
The most sincere wishes from all the banana tribe!
Sorry if in recent times we have been less in touch, but we have also gone through hard times and we still have to fight to find time to do something creative.
Your goal is fantastic and we hope one day to dive into the pages of the world you created!
Hi @bananafish, no worries :)
It is just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes on hive/steem... especially when you've got too many fingers in too many pies. That is something I've always been guilty of on here... trying to take on too much in too many different places. I learned the lesson when I started The Ink Well and I discovered that it was literally eating up all my time. For sure you've got to have at least 5 or 6 people committed to putting in similar amounts of time for communities to run reasonably smooth. The first 6 weeks and during the launch of The Ink Well it was pretty much all on me and then CV knocked me for six.
Anyway, sorry for not being more active joining in with the bananafish haiku challenges and other initiatives. If/when I return I'm almost definitely going to take a back seat 'community' wise and just write posts. Fingers crossed that would mean I could post content to more of the places I've grown to love over the last nearly 3 years blogging and writing on steem/hive.
All the best :)
Hi Raj, Of course I missed this post. I wish you well and am sorry that I keep losing touch. However, today I delegated 50 Hive to theinkwell as a show of support and I will try to engage more with the community. The creative writing juices are not really flowing (I think it's a matter of confidence), but maybe that will happen, also.
I am fond of you and will support any book that comes from your pen/keyboard.
Be well.
AG