Hollenguard: Finding my Voice

In starting writing on Hollenguard, I was sure to play by the rules of NaNoWriMo. That means nothing written down prior to the first day of November. So at the start, with a white screen staring you in the face and no notes to reference, it was a bit daunting.

I fell back on my role-playing roots. All good adventures start in an inn, right? As soon as I started writing I starting thinking of R.A. Salvatore's work, particularly the Drizzt saga. I knew that, given free reign, I would want to write a story about great warriors that are nearly unstoppable in every epic combat that comes upon them. They'd be bristling with weapons, powerful with magic. Superheroes.

So before I'd gotten to page 2 I had put the first of several constraints on my goals: This would not be a story about warriors. And then came my first major dramatic idea: Introduce some warriors into the story and very quickly remove them. So Tol's company came strolling up to the inn to set off the plot, and to remind me as I wrote that this story wasn't about them. This was about a young man's journey, one that had just fired his weapon for the very first time. A man that hadn't seen a single battle, heard of any wars, and had a perfect view of what was to become an imperfect world that existed beyond his home.

But being that I'd never written anything before, I had put down nearly 50 pages before I realized that I was telling this story entirely from Kamil's perspective. I had two other great characters tagging along in Elysandria and Nijal, but it always had to be Kamil who was front and center. I was afraid to pull away from him. 'Isn't this what I'm supposed to be doing?' I thought to myself. It felt like I could do more with what I had.

I took a short break and thought about all the books I've read and loved. One stood out: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. At a certain point in the book, the perspective shifts completely to one where the monster is telling his story. This was a wonderful shock to my young mind when I read it. I loved the whole concept of it. And so, overcompensating for the first 50 pages which I couldn't really go back and revise (50,000 words in 30 days doesn't allow for any backtracking), I dove into an entire chapter of Elysandria telling her story that lead up to her arrival at the inn.

This is a confusing chapter for several readers, and it's my fault. But it was also the funnest chapter for me to write outside of the very beginning of the book. I proved that I would truly enjoy bouncing the perspective around, and that it would only serve to enhance the story. I eagerly wrote my characters to a point where I could throw one of them off of a mountain (recalling the time where I, in fact, basically fell off of a mountain while skiing).

Cue Debo hopping into the book, and the rest of the story began to breeze by. And in my humble opinion, you can really tell. It truly picks up at this point and doesn't let up, and is as fun to read as it was for me to write.