a slight change in plans...
shifted writing visions and novel updates
Happy Sunday, everyone!
Today, I don’t have a life post for you (sorry!) But I do have a quick announcement/update regarding my novel and writing journey.
If you’ve been here a bit, you know that I am in the process of writing a YA dystopian novel titled The Clander’s Land, as I stated in this post:
And in that post, I said that I would be taking the One Year Adventure Novel (OYAN) high school writing course to help me quickly finish the book. So my OYAN books came yesterday and as I was reading through them, I discovered something that would shift the major writing goals I’ve talked about on this blog. Let me explain.
The Clander’s Land was the first novel idea that really struck me as a pretty good story, and I really wanted to write it as my debut novel. And the OYAN curriculum was that boost I needed to get started and get it done. However… OYAN was quite different than what I expected.
You see, the purpose of OYAN is to help young writers complete classic adventure novels in a year; a novel that follows the basic adventure style and plot sequence. And while The Clander’s Land is sort of adventurous, the main focus is survival, revenge, and warfare, so the plot doesn’t really follow the adventure sequence.
Also, regarding point of view (POV), the textbook said that my OYAN book must be in first person and that it can’t be told from multiple characters’ POVs. Well… The Clander’s Land is told in third person plural… so, uhh…
If you’ve read some of my book or understand the plot, you’ll know that first person will NOT work, like at all (also… I’m not particularly fond of first person POV…). And you’ll also understand that the story will not flow very well if it isn’t told from the POV of multiple characters.
So, at this point, my options were to 1) alter The Clander’s Land to fit these guidelines, or 2) put The Clander’s Land on pause and create an entirely new story for OYAN. And, well, I really like how The Clander’s Land is right now, so I chose option 2.
Yeah, I now have to think of a whole new novel idea…
Thankfully, part of OYAN is building a strong storyline and outlining the novel before actually writing it, so I should get my novel written nicely. However, it won’t be The Clander’s Land. I’m thinking of either a fantasy story or just some realistic fiction drama of sorts; I still haven’t decided.
It took me a really, really, really long time to develop the idea of The Clander’s Land, so thinking up an entirely new novel idea from scratch promises to be a bit of a challenge. Nevertheless, I’m pretty excited and can’t wait to share my progress with you all! To me, writing is fun in any form, whether as a novel, blog post, poem, short story, or anything. While I won’t be writing my previous WIP, I will still be writing, which is all that matters, right?
Anyways, that’s all I have to say on that. If you’re subscribed to me already, I’ll be posting progress updates and such as either Substack notes or chat threads in the subscribers chat. (If you’re not on that yet, it’s at forthelifeofme.substack.com/chat!)
Next (and final) order of business…
PROGRESS UPDATE!!
So while I will be putting a pause on The Clander’s Land, I’ll still be writing it after OYAN is over and in any spare time I receive. I’ve written 50-something pages of the manuscript already and looking back at that progress, I’m confident I’ll be able to complete the novel all on my own without OYAN (though OYAN will be incredibly helpful for writing my adventure novel).
As of today, I’ve written over 13,500 words of The Clander’s Land! As a writer, it’s weird to say that’s the most of one thing I’ve ever written before… but hey, I’m a short-form writer. I know 50 pages isn’t very much, but it is something and it’s motivating me to keep going and write this novel of my dreams.
I know this post was short and wasn’t like a real post, but writing is one of this blog’s focuses so I thought I might as well post this. More life posts are coming though so stay tuned for those!
If you liked this post, let me know by giving it a like and subscribing if you haven’t already.
I wish you all a wonderful day and the best of luck with your writing (or just general) endeavors!
Until next time <3
I’m hoping you’re still writing an independent stand alone story for the OYAN course which could be like survival type story. Sounds exciting!
Yo! I loved OYAN!!!! I used it in high-school to write my first real novel which placed in a youth novel-writing contest as a finalist. Looking back now with my improved skills, the novel needs a LOT of help, but OYAN was what got me going on my writing journey. Daniel is a GREAT teacher and the way OYAN is set up will help you efficiently draft a new storyline and complete manuscript. I hope you plan to be posting updates on how OYAN goes for you ;D
God bless,
Jaela
https://jjwrites4jesus.wixsite.com/faithfamilyfreedom