"the novel," etc.

[intertribal]

I've decided to start working on the novel again.  This is a big step for me, but I imagine it means nothing to most, haha.  "The novel" in this case refers to a saga/story I came up with about freshman year of college, after I had finished up the seven-book-series I spent middle school and high school writing.  "The novel" is the first of one of those dreaded trilogies, and I got halfway through the second book before I got tired of it, mainly because I realized I didn't know where the hell I was going.  This is why you worldbuild and outline, boys and girls.  Anyway I feel strongly about "the novel," and giving up on it entirely was never an option. 

The seven-book-series will never see the light of day because it has all the problems you'd expect a 15-year-old's stories to have, but it's always interesting when I see themes from that series arise again in "the novel."  And I mean, I realize these similarities like years after the fact.  It's good, though.  It means I'm thinking about "the novel" as a story and not just my accumulated babbles!

1.  I've never seen the movie Stigmata, but I feel like I should, because I have a real Stigmata thing going on.  
2.  The "religious right."  Although my feelings in re: this issue are pretty much summed up by the X-Files episode "Signs and Wonders."  
3.  Frowned-upon marriages.
4.  Social exile.  Class issues.  Communities that eat their own.
5.  Militarism.  Military leaders.  Law enforcement.  Abuse of power (by all characters).
6.  (Negative) Self-fulfilling prophecies.
7.  Competing definitions of what makes a "man."  The role of violence.
8.  Revenge.  Lots and lots of it.  I'm pretty sure this is a reason I like Sons of Anarchy; I'm all about the revanchism, mothafucka.
9.  Guilt, Revenge's ugly sister.

And I am doing this issues differently - more nuanced, I hope, and expanded in different directions - but I guess these are recurring themes for me.

Comments

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

so..."the novel" is one i don't know about, right?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

So... I can read the links royinpink has put in but being the queen of laziness, I'll just ask (and then probably read them anyway)

When is your novel set? You said it used to be called Illium... but I'm guessing it's not set long-ago. Is it alternate reality? The future? The present?

Abuse of power by all characters--I like that. No one gets off easily.

[pgtremblay.livejournal.com]

You wrote a seven book series when you were fifteen? Whoa. I'm envious that you started writing at such a young age.

Good luck with the novel. If it's anything like your short fiction, I can't wait to read it.