Onward!

I'm having a really good time with the Devlin books. I'm just on the first one, but I have stripped out about 1/4th of the plot into an outline and a few good lines. I've added new stuff off the start, deleted a ton of material early on, and really enjoying the process. It's going well. The book should be about 90 to 100k when I write it, and with luck all the others will run roughly in that same frame. I don't think I will start writing, though, until I get a couple more outlines done. The characters are a little better defined again. Cha is back to quoting Tao lines, which is fun. Not a lot of them, but a few here and there. Dancer is still too weak. I see him growing in the story, but I think him to be a little stronger off the start.

Here is a snippet of outline. This is one of the fun scenes I'm looking forward to writing. Devlin is a well-trained agent and she's usually the steady, nothing rattles her type. Cha is a famous scientist, who dresses conservatively when working. Dancer is a local young man who is helping them on a case. Devlin is the POV in this little piece of story:

Knocks. Cha opens. Some things no amount of training can prepare you for, and Dr. Cha Hao Chan in a lovely long silk robe with his hair free is one of those moments. Stunned. Babbles about breakfast while she's mentally trying to slap herself instead of watching how he moves and his hair floats behind him. Dancer plainly amused.

I do have other things that have to get done, of course. Working on Vision. Working on updates to FM. Working on the big major experiment project. Working on other stories, too. But it is the Devlin stuff that keeps pulling me back. And that's good. It's nice to have a fun, exciting project, even if it one this huge and daunting!

This, of course, leads to the big question about something I don't understand with some writers. If you don't love the creativity and the writing, why do you do it? Part of me understands the concept of enjoying having something done, even if you don't enjoy the work itself. But that's housecleaning. Mowing the lawn. Writing? I just can't get my mind around that part.

I can understand 'want to be published' but don't want to do the work, I suppose. However, I am so far at the opposite end, it's hard for me to connect with that sort of feeling. It's not that I have anything against publication, of course. It's just not what drives me to write, and it never has been. I go through stages where I submit tons of things, and then I go back to writing again and forget to submit anything for a while. This is especially true when I'm really busy with non-writing things because then the time I spend with writing-related stuff is focused entirely on -- well, on writing. Because, ya know, there's nothing more enjoyable in the world.

But then, I'm crazed. Just look at my new great project.