I sat down to work on Alex, like in the deal. I managed a paragraph or so.
The problem is, I've been reading The Wise Man's Fear and playing Dragon Age: Origins and the combination has put me into a serious fantasy mood. Children and Alex are written in completely different styles, and my fantasy style was starting to creep into my work tonight. A few spots where the narrative style changes completely would probably not be unheard of, but I'd like to avoid it if I can. So I cut myself some slack. Last week, I hit my goal of 10 pages for the week even though I skipped one of my writing nights, so here's hoping I can pull that off again.
So, instead of working on Alex, I opened up Children and read a few passages, including the start, and the end, and a few of my favorite scenes in the middle. On any given night, I can hate or love my own work. Tonight, I am pleased to report that Children did not suck.
Nah, it was more than that. It actually kind of kicked some ass. It was a book I wanted to read more of. Hell, honestly I wanted to open a new .doc and start working on book two, right there. I refrained, for many reasons, but still - it was a good feeling to have. I've been worried off and on that Children is a dead project now. Tonight, I'm not having that worry at all. It's a different setting than a lot of the popular ones right now - more black and white in a lot of ways, for one - but it still has merit and it still asks good questions. And while it may not be about a single character of questionable conscience, as I've seen suggested is the only form of viable, salable fantasy right now, its overall themes have plenty of grey.
Also, I love it. It is my world, its characters are my dear friends and enemies, and I have tricked myself into sleep more than once at night by imagining myself resting in one of its secret sanctums. Maybe I just needed a little shift back toward appreciation of fantasy to allow myself to enjoy it again.
Regardless, I'm hoping to be over it by tomorrow night. : P
I have a ghost story to finish.