Update on Sea Tree

Recently I purchased a laptop computer so that I could work on the novel on my lunch hours. I've been reading Steven's King's "On Writing" which is encouraging because the stumbling blocks I'm experiencing are normal for him - and he's certainly a success at writing and selling novels.

I've pretty much decided that Sea Tree is going to be a series. There are too many characters that I want to develop to put them all in one novel. The first book in the series will center around three main characters and how they find their way to Sea Tree. I'm taking the title for the first installment from this blog: Journey To Sea Tree.

As you may or may not know, Sea Tree is the product of a dream I had a few years ago. Life got in the way of turning this dream into my first novel. As with anything, if we wait until everything is perfect before starting something, we'll never get anything done. The first 50 pages of Sea Tree were lost when my hard drive crashed, so I started over and am back up to almost that many pages of very rough draft.

What kind of story is Sea Tree? I'm really not sure - and that's been one of the stumbling blocks in writing the novel. I don't want it to be something that is of interest to a narrow market, such as only Christians, or only fantasy fans. In my mind, it's a fantasy romance/action tale. The story deals with good and evil and with relationships. If it's done well Sea Tree should be a success, but it needs a lot of work. I will not be allowing anyone to read the first draft; and my second draft will probably only be read by my fiance and my daughter - two people whom I know will be gentle and not shatter my fragile ego. By the third draft I'll ask a few friends and authors to critique the book before trying to find an editor and publisher.

Time-wise, we're looking at another year to finish the first draft. I've got a lot going on with a wedding or two between now and the end of the year. The important thing is that I'm back working on the novel and every day I discover something new about the characters. It is fun discovering how these people ended up in my dream. The challenge will be to write how the dream ends, because I woke up before it was finished. It might be hard to believe in certain parts, but isn't that how our dreams are?

By the way - don't you love the paintings on the right? They are done by Rod Chase. You really need to see them in person to fully appreciate them. Hope he doesn't mind that I'm decorating my blog with his art. I'll let him sell Sea Tree on his website and keep the profit:).