Seeds and blueprints

The #PitMad event is coming up next month. I think I’m going to wait for that to start shopping the manuscript around. If no one bites there, I’ll start sending it off to publishers and agents. Here’s hoping!

I’ve finally finished my re-read of Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to exploring the lore of the setting and speculating on the plot/character developments likely to come in the future novels, especially The Winds of Winter. A Dance with Dragons was published almost a decade ago, and in the 8 years since its release, fans have pored over the pages of the series to hunt for clues and established communities for the discussion of the characters and likely destination of the series as a whole. The sheer amount of content generated by fans in this time is mind-boggling: pages upon pages of text typed out in forums, hours and hours of commentary videos, stunning pieces of fanart – it’s stunning to consider.
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Martin talks about two broad categories of writers: architects and gardeners.  It’s a wonderful analogy, and Martin describes himself as more of a gardener than an architect. I identify with that as well; I can start with a broad overview of what I want the story to look like, but I don’t get any specifics at all before I get to writing. Many times a character will pop into my head, and as I introduce them into the story, I find that I’ve forgotten to name them. Not very architectural of me.

Write your story!
-J. E. Ayers