By Liz, enjoying a snow-free corner of New England.
I haven’t shared this broadly yet, but I’m starting a new series. I’m excited to tell you all about it when I have more to share, like a series name and an actual book title. In the meantime, I’m deep into the writing on the first book, which is due over the summer.
It’s exciting, invigorating, and the possibilities are endless.
And I gotta tell you, it’s kind of hard. And scary.
World building is daunting. I’d forgotten how much, after one series with seven books and one series with three books. Granted, it took me a bit to hit my stride with Cat About Town, the first in the Cat Cafe series, but it was still a bit easier. Mostly because I could picture the town and the people – and of course the cats! – really well, and it was a real-life scenario I was familiar with. This new book, and this series, has some different elements that take a lot of imagination and creativity.
Some days I’m sitting here wondering if I can do it. On the days when I feel like my creativity is sapped and I have absolutely no imagination left, I start to panic and think about what will happen if I screw this up. Like if I make a mistake in the first one that will make my life difficult in the next books. Or pick a direction and later realize it wasn’t the best direction, and be stuck with it. Those are usually the days when the day job is draining me, or the to-dos are piling up, and the doubt that I can get it all done and done well creeps in.
But then I remember what drew me to writing in the first place. I longed to create new worlds and people that filled those worlds. I remember when I was a kid, transforming the woods behind my house into a witches’ lair. Reimagining the swamp across the street as the headquarters for my space team’s spaceship activation as we went off to fight the other planets. My entire neighborhood became a plethora of different worlds, depending on my mood, my mode of transportation, and which friends were around to play with. If I was by myself, I solved mysteries like Nancy Drew. If my neighbors were home, we acted out Battle of the Planets or some other favorite cartoon. Or we made up our own places, people and stories.
I’ve always had the imagination. I just have to remember to stop doubting myself long enough to tap into it again.
And I think I’m going to build a pretty awesome world. I hope you all think so too once the book is done!
Readers, what do you need to feel pulled into a new world when you start a series?