Editing sucks.  Its the bane of my existence, regardless of knowing how essential that it is to the writing process.  There is no possible way to avoid doing it, we’re only human and we all make mistakes, and there is always room for improvement on a good idea.

I could write a whole series of posts about all the things I don’t like about editing my own work, but today I’m going to focus on my current dilemma: stabilizing world creation.

There are two “Classes” or “Types” of writer’s apparently – those that plan out the entire work before they even put pen to paper, and know about everything in the world and story they are creating.  They have detailed notes about what is supposed to happen when, and how each of there characters is important to the story and each other, and how the mechanic’s of the world with affect them and their decisions during the course of the novel.  Then there are those who just sit down with nothing more then an idea and their imagination and get busy.

The second type is more like how I start out, although I know I’ve grown as an author because of the last few ideas I’ve had –  and how I’ve started the planning before actually getting any of the story it self down in a recognizable format – although I still largely go with my gut and a blank piece of paper to create on when it comes time to let the story out.

Ideas for stories hit me like lightning – one moment its not there, and then bam!  I’ve hit the inspiration mother load.

Its hard to tell how ‘Touch of Destiny’ came to me, it was a long time ago, and I’ve had parts of it written down in random notebooks for years, gradually adding to different parts of the story as the whim struck me.  I’ve always known that the story would be too much for one book, and that it would likely be a trilogy, and I’ve always known how it was going to end, but the journey has been something that’s only really started to evolve since last November when I wrote out the lion’s share of the first complete rough draft I’ve ever had for it.

Now after having spent time writing ‘Touch of Destiny’, and delving fairly extensively into the second book ‘Hand of Fate’ – I know more about the world that I’ve gotten myself involved with – and how much I need to actually show potential future readers.  The world is so much larger then I had originally envisioned, and things aren’t as simple as I was naive enough to think last year.

The basics that I had originally planned on have largely remained the same – – the main kingdoms and the leaders of each, basic beliefs of the common people, the logistics for pulling forth magical and arcane abilities and what place those abilities have within the hierarchy of normal life.  I knew that there would be a cost for every gift – – but the price has changed from that first rough draft on a long forgotten scrap of paper.  The stakes have been raised.

The politics of the world are coming more into play – – something I couldn’t even fathom before this had been more fully laid before me.  I’ve been watching as this spark of an idea I had in a long forgotten corner of my life, has grown into a small blaze before me, causing me to pay more and more attention to it – to give it the life it’s calling out for.  (That might just be a flowery way of saying I’ve become more and more obsessed with seeing this through until its the best that it can possibly be.)

I’ve gone from simply telling a story about a group of characters, to telling a story about the lives and the world that these characters live in, and what outside influences cause them to act, and how the experiences and knowledge that they have causes them to react and make the decisions that they end up making along the way.  Its beginning to feel more and more whole the more time I spend going through the rough draft I have.

Its defiantly been a learning experience writing something as long as this is turning out to be.  I’ve written short stories and far more fanfiction then I care to admit some days, and I’ve found that those sorts of projects are relatively easy to deal with because of the simplicity of the fact that you are either telling a very specific story, or that you are borrowing heavily from a pre created world.

I read quite extensively, and often its the world building,  the background that the author has painstakingly crafted that keeps me enthralled long after the story it self has been told.  Anyone can tell a good story – but its the world building that makes it believable, sincere, and tangible.

This is what I’m slowly adding to ‘Touch of Destiny’, it’s what has been causing me to take longer then I would like to get past the first quarter of my editing – but once I have it just right, I know that the overall feel of the story I’m trying to tell will be so much more then it is in its current state.

I still hate editing, but it’s a necessary evil.