Here's the fun thing about writing--and it varies, of course, whether you plot your work out or not. Me, I do a fairly rough outline. It can get detailed at times, but for the most part each paragraph is an idea of what a chapter will be about and then we move on to the next. Especially early on in the project, I refer to my outline before I start a new chapter, and sometimes as I write in case things get fuzzy. I would say about fifty pages or so ago I closed out my outline file. Quit bothering to look at it since one event I wrote on the fly threw my plotting off the rails.
That, let me tell you, is a good thing.
I can only think of one story of mine for sure that adhered closely to the original idea, and that's probably because I thought it was so good I was afraid of veering too far off course. But right now, I'm totally off-road and I dig it. I'll frame the next bit sort of like I did my Q & A section of the website:
Q: Who lives and who dies?
A: Dunno...I thought that guy was gonna make it but he's got holes in him now.
Q: How does the story end?
A: Beats me.
Q: How is this going to lead into another two or three books?
A: Guess we'll find out!
Now, this probably seems like I'm following the "How to Write the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Guidebook" to a tee, but hey, I'm an anonymous indie author. I'm not working on a beloved property where I'll have hordes of fanboys hunting me down in the street. That's not to say I I'm gonna just riff however I want and whatever jumbled mess that comes out, "eh, whatever!" No, I have strict quality control protocols in place. If they aren't followed to the letter, my computer will self-destruct like a message in a Mission: Impossible film.
Seriously.
...Okay, maybe it won't literally do that, but you get my point.
So, at this point I feel like I might have caught my quality control protocols during nap time, what with all the rambling and using the word "point" back to back. Let's get to the update on Book #8. I promised my social media followers an update if I crossed a certain threshold tonight, and I did. The first draft of Tides of Odyssium #1 now stands at 300 pages and 79,000 words, which, incidentally, is about 256 pages shorter than this blog post. In short, I'm pretty darn happy with how it's turning out. It's wildly different from the previous books, has more or less hopped genres as it seems I somewhat do with each mainline novel, and I hope I can keep it up for at least two more books that also go into new and exciting territories. Till the next update, take care.
-C