A Novel Idea for 2025

Let me tell you a story about a novel idea that has been in the works for thirteen years.

It all started when I was a freshman at UC Davis, taking both a literature class in fairy tales and an honors program class on poetry. After learning about the Grimm Brothers, I was inspired to write an epic poem in which the Pied Piper had a sister, whom I called the Singing Gypsy. Later that year, this epic poem birthed a short story that is now known as Red Shift. (You can see the current version of this short story here on Vocal.) From this short story, I created an entire world incorporating several characters, both original and based on fairy and folk tales. I began to plan a series based on the lives of the Pied Piper and the Singing Gypsy. However, the life of a secondary character caught my attention, Beorn the Alchemist. Soon, his life pulled me away from the Pied Piper and the Singing Gypsy to a new series of novels based on Beorn’s complex adventures. It is the first novel of this series that I plan to finish in the year 2025.

Why am telling you the entire history of this novel?

I feel that in order for my readers to understand the importance of this novel to me, they must know how long it has been with me, where it came from, and the fact that it is not just about one novel—it’s about an entire world that I have immersed myself in for thirteen years. I have meticulously built this world from the ground up, with a variety of fairy tales, folktales, and mythologies for my foundation. I have spent hours creating geographical, political, and cultural landscapes for this world. I have plotted, re-plotted, and re-re-plotted the lives of these characters, trying to make something come together that works as a cohesive whole. I have poured all my emotions and my views of the world into these characters and the scraps of the plot that I have put together. And I am far from done.

I have a lot left to do before I can see my masterpiece published, and that is why this year I am focused solely on planning and writing this novel, tentatively titled Beorn the Alchemist. Now, I am not normally a resolution or planning sort of person when it comes to my writing—I more like to “plants,” a combination of planning and flying by the seat of my pants—but for this particular project, I have come up with a rough timeline for getting my steps done:

1. World Building / Research (Now – Beginning of March)

As I said before, I still have a lot of world building to complete. This includes language construction, lore creation, and research into such things as djinn (spoiler alert). Even with working on my day job and freelance assignments, two months should give me enough time for this foundational work.

2. Plotting (March – Beginning of May)

Admittedly, my plot needs a lot more work than my world building does. It has been driving me insane the past few years as I have tried to figure out what it is that is missing from the plot to make everything come together in the way that I have envisioned it. Something in the middle just has not wanted to come to fruition in my mind. Hopefully, working on the world building and research will shake the cobwebs out enough that I will be able to identify this missing element and fix it before I start writing.

3. Writing (May – December 25)

I already have some chapters of the story written. However, these will inevitably be rewritten or axed as I finish the world building and create the plot in its entirety. Once the world building and plotting are completed, the writing will likely be the easiest part of this project for me but take the most time. I will try and avoid any rewriting or editing beyond the chapters that I have already written during this time so that I can stay focused and just get the rough draft done, but I can make no promises.

If I follow these (loose) steps, I should be able to have the rough draft of the novel finally written by next Christmas. My secret hope is that this project will also serve as one of my Christmas presents to my mother, who has been anxiously awaiting this novel ever since the idea’s conception. She has been by my side, alpha reading the chapters that I have already written and cheering me on all these years, and it would make her Christmas if I could get her even just a complete rough draft.

I know that many writers would try and get the entire novel written and published by the end of the year. Perhaps that is the sort of timeline that I should shoot for if I want this novel to be profitable. However, I don’t just want to write this novel to make money. This novel is my mind baby. It contains themes, symbolism, and political statements that I have thought long and hard about, some that are personal to me and some that I have observed out in the world. I would never risk rushing this project just so that I could get it published sooner. I have waited this long; I can wait a year longer.

Considering how many people on here have already published books and/or post stories here on a regular (sometimes daily) basis, writing a novel within a year does not sound like a very hefty goal. For me, though, it’s like reaching for the stars. To finally finish this project will mean the world to me, even if the only people who will ever see it will be my mother and me. You know what they say, though; it’s not the size of the goal that matters but how much it matters to you.