I’ve been hard at work writing for NaNoWriMo, when I’m not at my full time job. This year, I thought I’d try my hand at a bit of Fantasy. It’s been going well, but a lot more difficult than I expected. For a while there, I didn’t feel like my novel was fitting into one genre, but branching out into crime, fantasy, superhero fiction, and more. With the help of a friend, I’ve finally categorized it as “Urban Fantasy”.
Surprisingly enough, I’ve already given my novel a title! What?? I know, crazy. I can’t even give a title to my second novel which is nearly complete. Granted, this title may change, but for now, I give you “The Controllers of Zaraline.” Think superhuman people who can control things everyday humans can’t. Think force fields, flying, dissipation, resurrection, and much much more. But how did they get these powers? Simple – discovering the meaning of life. Bam!
As I was writing down my ideas, I realized that I hadn’t painted a picture of Zaraline in my writing. I had created it in my mind, but I was focusing solely on my characters and dialogue. In the past, I’ve been told I need to work on my dialogue and development of my characters. In doing so, I left out my strengths which lie in setting the scene.
Since then, I’ve gone back and created the world of Zaraline in words, but before doing so, I sketched out a nice map of it to really imprint it in my brain. Plus, I wanted to give you all a sneak peek. Zaraline isn’t exactly the fantasy world you want to live in. It’s more of a place where superhumans are imprisoned so that they can’t share their powers with the world. Though they are under the impression that they voluntarily moved to Zaraline. I know, it sounds like I have some influences from Heroes the TV show. I admit, I probably do. I love Heroes.
Anywho, here’s a map of Zaraline (I apologize for the low quality – I had to take a picture of it with my camera since the scanner kept yelling at me):
I’ll leave you to contemplate what I have in store for you. Time to get back to writing!
Love,
Renee
Can’t wait to read it!!!!!
Oooh, the maps look like Bilbo Baggins’ book. Awesome! This will be a great read. keep writing, keep writing…
I don’t think you need to worry about fitting into a genre. That being said, “Urban Fantasy” sounds like a really cool mash-up of styles. I will look forward to reading this.
Thanks everyone. I’ll keep at it