Secondly, as I've discussed before, I know where the story goes and how it ends, so there;s not so much for me to discover on the way. This makes it less exciting to write, A bit like writing a whodunit when you already know whodunit! (Which is why I could never write a whodunit!)
270,000 words makes it bigger than:
- 2 Hobbits
- The First 3 Harry Potter books
- Ready Player One
- The Order of the Phoenix
I still expect the finished story to be around 300K making it about the same length as Game of Thrones.
Cover art will be professionally created, although I'm going to have a stab at creating my own map, just as the great J.R.R.Tolkien did himself. My wife bought me a Wacom tablet for Christmas, and I've been looking at some very helpful videos posted by Jessica Khoury (a fantasy writer in her own right) which brings me to the familiar subject of accidental plagiarism.
In these litigious days, when people will sue you for anything, a writer needs to be sure they haven't stolen any ideas either deliberately or accidentally. Many of the names in my book are inspired by real words but many are simply made up. Unfortunately one of my made-up names appears to have already been used by another fantasy writer, which means I now need to make up a new one. It's a real shame because I really like the name!
I still have many ideas for other stories and I aim to buy a new Chromebook soon, to allow me to write more effectively on the go. (My current laptop is too large for travel).
I aim to finish and publish the book this year, so watch this space.
That's all for now,
John Howes.
