Two years ago, 21.7.2015 (at 9:17 CEST) I started the long journey to put my ideas for a fantasy story together. After a nudge from my fellow World of Warcraft player who told me the truth that there’s no reason to not try, I started writing a sample chapter. Now, two years later, first book is somewhere on transition between alpha and beta version and I decided to reflect a bit on what happened in those two years.

Two years of what I estimate to be much more. I did not give it working name “Project Eternity” for nothing.

From six characters to forty

Of course the number is not exact, but the sample I wrote had only a few of the characters that take part in the story. Some of those that appear in chapter 1 were not created before the moment I actually started writing the chapter (a story I’ll share later). The sample was from somewhere in later part of second book (hard to guess before I get there) and at this point it’s soon about to be dismantled as during writing book one and preparing story of book two I realised I’ll need to change timing of some events.

Anyway, in first book, there’s around forty to forty-five named characters with some more to appear later. And for some, I still lack a name I would be satisfied with even after several changes. It’s my biggest hold-up at this point.

Learning on the go

When I started, I thought I have totally on clue what the hell I am doing. The feeling is not as prominent now, but it’s still there. The learning curve is probably one of the most exhilarating parts of writing and no matter how it ends, it’s because of this I’ll never regret the time spent working on it.

Best proof? Second or third time I was doing complete proof-read and revision, I was looking at some of the earlier chapters and though, whoa, this is bad. Intro (prologue, if you wish) was terrible on the first try and I completely rewrote the second part and for continuity, first part of first chapter. I rewrote chapters 12 and 13 significantly and others had significant changes as well.

Strange emotions

It feels really strange to read something I wrote myself. Even though I know what will come, I still feel excited to read some portions of the story I really like. But that’s still not the strangest thing. I admit I brought myself to tears when writing one specific part of the story and it’s even stranger because I am probably the only one who could be brought to tears in that moment, because I know exactly what future event it mentions.

Current state of the Project Eternity

As I mentioned, the first book is in first beta version. I still need to finalize two or three names before doing a full proofread followed by another wave of edits. I’ll also need to finalize the book’s name and look for a cover artist that would not ruin my student’s budget.

I also have a short story that likewise will need review and editing to do, something I would put up somewhere for free probably by the end of the year as a teaser. It looks a bit to the past and explains how the unusual friendship between some characters (can’t say much because of spoilers) started.

As for the second book, I have 40% of it in first draft and these days my mind is working out some of the more complicated things to come. Some things that will happen will need to happen in perfect timing and I am now trying to figure it out.

That’s all that I’ll share today about this. More will come in the future and at some point I plan to share my thoughts about some of the characters (their development) and other (hopefully) interesting parts of my writing experience.