So What is the Book About? (Big Project Post #2)

Now that we know the content for the majority of the blog will be following along as I write a book, I’m sure you are thinking, “Gee, Sean, what is your book going to be about?”  Well, dear readers, I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be writing an urban fantasy book about a police officer who happens to be a necromancer.

As long as I’ve been making up stories, I’ve gravitated toward fantasy.  I remember being a little kid and sitting next to my older sister telling fantasy stories I made up as she practiced her typing skills and pretending to be a knight as I walked around our farm wielding an aluminum tent pole as a sword and a cardboard shield hunting for dragons.   (For those of you thinking, "But Sean, there are no dragons in the Oklahoma panhandle," you're welcome.)  Fantasy has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and I've always dreamed of writing a fantasy novel that I can share with others. 

I have attempted a bigger fantasy story in the past when I tried to do NaNoWriMo several years ago and was quickly overwhelmed by the immense scale of the project.  It was quite an ambitious project and I jumped into it without much planning.  Needless to say it didn’t get finished.

I’ve also done the outlining for an urban fantasy project about a police officer who dies and becomes a guardian angel who investigates demons and other nasty stuff.  I figured that as a police officer, I could bring some interesting things to the story to flesh out that side of the main character while adding the cool supernatural stuff along the way.  The most frequent response I got from friends when I told them that idea was, “Oh cool, so it’s like RIPD?”  I haven’t seen that movie but evidently it wasn’t the cool unique story I had envisioned.  My enthusiasm for that project deflated pretty quickly after that.

A little while later I was listening to a Writing Excuses podcast where several of the writers strongly advocated writing derivative stories when you’re starting out.  As fate would have it, I also just finished the fourth book in the Dresden Files series (which was awesome).  So I decided I’d take the idea of using a police officer as the main character and making him a necromancer.  It’s totally different than a private investigator who is a wizard right?

I was instantly excited about the possibilities that started flying out as I started brainstorming.  I particularly liked the idea that an officer of the law would have to deal with the moral dilemma of being someone who seeks justice and wants to protect people while also using a type of magic that is generally regarded to be unwholesome and evil.

The two main things I am focusing on most as I work on this is finishing the story and creating an engaging main character.  I’ll work on the magic system and world building as I go, but this round I’m really going to work on character creation.  My long-term goal is to actually make a trilogy with this character and focus on making significant improvements each time to different aspects of the writing process.   First, I’ve got to get this book finished, and I’m excited to bring you all along with me.