A lot goes into the mythology of a book, and that is especially true when working on a series. The more I write, the more I learn, and frankly, the world continues to expand the further I get into it.
So, here we are at another Camp NaNoWriMo prep post, and I know that there are a few different camps when it comes to this part of preparation...usually tied to the general writing camps as proposed by NaNoWriMo.
First are the planners, and I imagine they would have about 85% of the world-building and mythology figured out before they started writing. Planners are the people who have to know what's going to happen and know how deep the water is and how quick the current is before they jump in. I've tried to go the planner route before, and honestly, as soon as I write up such a large compendium on the characters, the plots, the settings, the mythology, all the desire to actually write the story is gone, because it feels like I already wrote the dang thing.
Then there are the pantsers. They are the people who just sit down and write, and figure things out as they go along. Now, sometimes pantsers don't fly by the seat of their pants, and have a vague 10% idea of what might happen. Again, I can't go wholly along with the pantser mentality because when I sit down to write, you can bet that I've been thinking and dreaming about the characters, the world, and the story for a while and now feel that it is time to actually put the words on the page.
So a couple years ago there was this proposal of a third camp of writing, and honestly it fits me quite well...the percolators. Much like the name implies, those belonging to this camp will consider the story and its aspects and muse/think on/percolate about the options before writing. I find that percolating has elements of planning and pantsing. It is a nice middle ground, and I do some of my best percolating while I'm at work...because there isn't much else to do with the mind while the body repeats the monotonous tasks of an assembly line.
For the most part I have basic character details scribbled down...height, hair, eyes, name meanings, etc. in case I need a quick reference at some point or another, and then I may have vague details for what might happen within a chapter. For instance, while writing on Project Death: Revelation, the second book in my Project Death series, I regularly would have a chapter number with bullet points saying stuff like "-Thanos Reaps person here" and then a couple other points to round out a chapter. That way I have a general idea what I need to do, but it isn't planned to the point that I feel like I've already written it.
As I've progressed through the series, I've realized that perhaps I should have written down more about the overall mythology of the beings within. Book two really gets into the creation of Death and highlights a bit about the purposes of the Resurrectors. Plus, Fate becomes a relatively important character in person instead of just in name. And in the third book there will be even more details about Fate, and possibly about how the Resurrectors were created in the first place.
Though I never really wrote it down or anything, I had been thinking about how the whole system worked for quite some time. I actually have drawn from several different areas of mythology and from some areas of spirituality to create this world. When Resurrectors heal, they place their hands on two of the chakras of the body. Fate obviously hints towards a possible link to mythos found in many systems of mythology, and I would say specifically which one, but you'll learn that sometime in the Project Death series...probably soon. I do have a novella planned that is focused on Fate.
What's really exciting is that though I've utilized Fate, Death, and the Angel of Death in my own way, and then created the Resurrectors, I'm not quite done introducing "mythical beings" just yet. Just as Tam helped to create the Reapers and bring them into the world, another new classification will be introduced in Project Death: Redemption.
My Project Death universe keeps expanding and it adds so much more realism and depth to the world overall. I can't wait to see what happens next, and I hope you all enjoy the world as much as I do.
Next week will be the last Camp NaNoWriMo prep post...but I still haven't quite decided on a topic yet. I'll figure something out by then...I hope.
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