..:: Written .:. Off ::..

I started writing my second novel about a week ago with a skeleton outline that maps out the first few chapters. I have some idea where the story it headed, but I haven’t quite figured out the end of the book.

The story takes place in the same world that set my first book, but in a different area of the world. As I wrote, I kept hitting spots where I needed some history or descriptions that I hadn’t thought about yet. Yesterday, I forced myself to take a break from writing the story, and write some of the background, something which I normally hate doing.

I started with the initial location of the story, an old outpost at the very end of the highway. I asked myself about the history of the outpost and just wrote it out free form. The exercise helped in many ways. I know how it was built, who built it, in what sequence the buildings were constructed, and the layout of the facility. Most of this info will never make it into the story, but just knowing these little bits will allow me to add more depth as I write.

After that, I wrote the history of the organized militia that upholds the law. I wrote out everything from how they formed, their jurisdiction, their enemies, and their dress code.

All of this background writing took only about an hour or two of writing, but I’m already thinking differently about the story. Most of the info was in my head already, but in rough form. Writing it out allowed me to think about things in more detail than I ever would have.