Das Buch

Leaping again into the murky and ridiculously vacuous time vortex that is creative writing, I struggled for the longest time to get a chokehold on an idea I liked enough to expand on. I've never had a problem with writer's block (perhaps but hopefully not because my writing isn't intellectual or thought-provoking enough) but not having writer's block can also be a problem.

I had a pile of papers, each one littered with notes and concepts for stories, some with accompanying drafts of the first chapter or two, some with a big question mark dotted over the title or main character's name. None of them really leapt out at me. I had a string of narratives and a chorus line of characters rampaging through the 'random' folder on my hard-drive in various text files, annoying me with their dramatic introductions and semi-formed personas, but I didn't really click with any of them.

Of course, as often happens, it was when I was not trying that the eventual 'worthwhile' idea presented itself, and now a year and a half later I have a draft of the first part of The Binding of Ciltari, a fantasy/drama set in another place, another time, and I'm really happy with how it's emerging.

I just had a number of copies printed and flung them into the postage system to test on some poor, unwitting subjects and so far the response has been interesting. Thankfully - and perhaps due to my friends and family being too nice to knock me down a few pegs - it's been mostly positive. The feedback has been astute and invaluable in helping me make a couple of decisions and pointing out what needs to be fixed up before the next draft is ready - in other words there are definite changes to make, but that's writing.

You can see what's happening at www.BindingOfCiltari.com, though updates aren't going to be too frequent for a while. Hopefully I can also post a few tidbits here too.

Jimzip