I’m about to dive into a new novel in a few days. It is a fantasy novel that tackles the idea of displacement and a protagonist who is not actually a good dude. I like the challenge of it. I don’t know the protagonist yet. I did, but the pages and pages of notes on the thing were written two years ago. Why did I wait so long? I don’t know, but here we are.
Before that happens I need to finish up some contract work and that means either burning through a ton of words before Sunday or doing some things simultaneously. I’m not opposed to writing multiple projects at once, but I am concerned about maintaining a balance between this, work, life, and the start of a new youth football season. In short, there is a lot of stuff going on in my life… as usual.
The novel is written from the perspectives of two separate protagonists so far. I am considering a 3rd but I don’t really have a reason for a 3rd. I suppose I just like the odd number and envision it as a way to tell more about this world. I am writing about a world of overcrowding and extreme poverty in some cases and the arrival of steam technology. Yet this is not steampunk. This is something else entirely and lives in this space in between levels of tech where blades are still how troubles are settled and magic defines the aristocracy.
I am also telling a story about who gets to write history. This is a land where the history was written by those in power and all other versions of what happened have been stamped out. It feels timely. It is not literature in the sense of being that rarified sort of style, but it is a way to talk about what is happening now and what has happened through a lens that I feel comfortable with and is far enough removed from reality to make an argument yet still be enjoyable.