The Phoenix Prophetess is my first novel that I am working on. It is not the first novel I have attempted, but I do plan for it to be the first novel that I will have finished. After I received my B.A. in Classics, I began to think about writing a novel. I bounced around several ideas, but I kept coming back to my land of Amora and the character Yssa, who is the Phoenix Prophetess. I wrote down some notes about the land, drew a map, and a few pictures. I created a list of some of the gods, such as Apenth, god of prophecy, wisdom, and healing. I pulled a lot from my mythology background, but I never got much further than that until January 15, 2009.
Something changed that day. I had been working at my new library assistant job for six weeks. Since I was still new, I didn't have that much to do, and my mind kept coming back to Yssa and the kingdom of Amora. I sat down at my work computer and wrote the first chapter, which gave birth to the still born girl, who was revived by the god Apenth to become the Phoenix Prophetess. I planned from then on to write a chapter a week. Some chapters were harder than others, but I maintained my chapter a week (except for the week I wrote two chapters).
Now two weeks shy of five months, I finished writing chapter twenty-two. The novel is currently at 53,774 words long. I'm really proud of my accomplishment, and it is an accomplishment. It is the most I've ever written on an original piece. My goal is to finish the novel in October and spend the next two months after that editing it like crazy. I have someone who wants to do the cover art for free. I hope in January 2010 that I will be able to start querying it to agents and publishers.
The Phoenix Prophetess is also a trilogy. My goal is to finish writing all three books by the end of 2011, although I would be fine, if I didn't finish it until 2012 either. The second book is titled The Phoenix Sorceress and the third book is The Phoenix Queen. I have bits and pieces of the other two books planned in my head, but I am still open to change and to see where the story flows.
I must admit sometimes it seems as if the novel has a life of its own and I'm just the mere vessel set to type it.
3 comments:
Wow, a background in classics is a great platform for writing!
53, 774 words is great, especially if you have more to go! My last novel finished at 60,000 and I really wanted it to go 65-75. But oh well.The novel is the vessel and the story decided to stop there!
Good luck with it!
Classics definitely has helped in writing.
I agree that you pretty much have to stop when the novel stops. People can tell if you are just adding things to make it longer. I figure The Phoenix Prophetess will be around 75,000-80,000 words long, but it could be shorter or more depending on how things go. We'll just have to see. *grins*
That's a perfect word count for a fantasy novel!
Right now I'm thinking about adding more descriptions and dialog, but it's like pulling teeth....ick!
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