OK, so I’m knee-deep into a new project called “The Great North” (I know, I know, but this one had a deadline). It’s a post-apocalyptic retelling of a legend, and it’s unlike anything that I have done so far.
Or so I thought.
So I’m writing along, with my loose outline in a spreadsheet at my side to track all the stuff writers have to track when they write, and my latest crush – mint milanos – at my side. It’s new. it’s fresh. And best of all, it’s working.
And then I start to notice things.
My first protagonist is a young gay, brown-haired man in a medieval village, scared of his sexuality.
Just like in my earlier story, “The Autumn Lands”.
The other is a slightly older blond stranger who arrives in a caravan.
Just like in “The Autumn Lands”.
Oh, and he has a secret.
At this point, I’m officially starting to freak out. I’m a crap writer who doesn’t know what the hell he is doing. I’ve run out of new stories to tell. Oh crap, I’m a total fraud!
So I close my eyes, take ten deep breaths, and try to calm down. No body loves a crazy writer is a writer.
I can deal with this.
First of all, “The Great North” story is not a quest story. “The Autumn Lands” is most definitely a quest story.
The characters are fundamentally different, despite the superficial similarities.
And after the set-up, “The Great North” veers off in a whole different direction. Or at least it will now. *grin*
I start to breathe normally again. I can do this. I can write again. This story’s gonna be fricking awesome! F@ck yeah! And it’s gonna be nothing like “The Autumn Lands” when I’m done with it.
I make myself a mental note for the next story. No more damned caravans.
Do you ever find yourself writing the same story?
Bwahahahahahahaha I would imagine when you start writing to prolifically, that sometimes they might start to resemble some you’ve already done…
Many of my stories are about “a second chance” (be it to say goodbye, to fix a mistake, to try to rekindle, etc.) so I know this feeling well. 🙂