I have posted the eleventh chapter of Barghest, which can be read here. When I write, every story usually starts with a few key scenes in mind. Most of my favorite authors do not write in that manner. They have a story arc, a grand plot scheme, which they then fill in the details of. I love those authors. I love reading their work. But I find that more difficult to do. I generally spend several months, sometimes a year or more, thinking over a story idea. I have one or two key scenes laid out down to the last detail, and then I start to write. I do not begin with those scenes. I begin with the backstory – everything that is going to get me to that point. Sometimes it takes longer than others, but by the time I finish writing that first key scene, I have usually figured out where I want the story to go. I have planned the main arc and have a few subplots in mind. As I write, I am going back and filling in some details, taking out some other extraneous information, so that what you read here is truly a work in progress. Barghest, like anything I write, is changing as you read it. You, the reader, are seeing ideas as I develop them. And once the story is complete, you can go back and reread it as though it were a new tale. That is how I feel about my own stories. I want to read through them after I am done and be just as thrilled, angry, frustrated, in love, and moved as if I was reading it for the first time.
This chapter of Barghest is the beginning of that. It contains slivers of that first key scene – that moment where it is all beginning to come together for me. I have a plan now. I know where this is going, and I am excited for it. Please, take this journey with me.
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