Amid the Shuttlers sequel, the Paranormal City series and its eighteen spin-offs, there’s a third project quietly taking shape that I haven’t talked about much publicly. It’s an epic fantasy with the working title Opener of the Ways, and it’s been a different kind of beast entirely to write.
Why I Haven’t Said Much About It
Partly because, true to form, I didn’t plan to write it; it arrived the way everything does: an idea the Muse wouldn’t let go of. I’ve been quietly following it ever since without making a great deal of noise about it. Partly because epic fantasy, by its nature, takes a great deal longer to properly settle than a short story or even a standalone novel, and I didn’t want to promise something before I had a sense it was actually going to hold together.
It was my first fiction project once I decided to become a writer, and I’m still working on it.
Do you remember me talking about the book that died when I tried to change from being a Pantser to a Plotter? Well, that was this one.
From being stalled at 30,000 words, it’s now expanded to over 147,000. When I first started the project, my biggest worry was that it wouldn't be long enough. I thought I was going to end up with a novella containing short, uninteresting chapters. Now, I am wondering how I can split it into smaller parts, because I know most publishers won’t publish anything more than a hundred thousand words or so unless your name is King or Rowling.
It follows a classical three-act structure with a prelude, loosely based on the Hero’s Journey. The prelude and Acts 1 & 2 are complete, and I’m roughly halfway through Act 3. What’s holding me up is that each chapter of Act 3 takes place in a different historical era, so I have to research each one to ensure I don’t make any egregious mistakes. One thing I’ve learned is that readers love to pick you up on your mistakes!
What’s Different About Writing It
Epic fantasy asks for a different kind of patience than anything else I’ve worked on. There’s more worldbuilding, more history sitting beneath the surface of every scene, more characters whose threads need to meet up in ways that make sense eventually. As a committed Pantser, I find this genuinely challenging. I’m used to finding things out as I go, but a world this size has needed me to keep a closer eye on consistency than I’m naturally inclined to.
That was the reason I fell prey to the temptation to turn into a Plotter. Although I have given that up, I do have a couple of spreadsheets: one to track a character because his timeline does not match that of the others, and the other to keep track of how many people died because of the protagonist.
Yes, I know that sounds grim, but there is a reason for it.
What makes it even harder, as far as world-building is concerned, is that its structure is episodic: almost every chapter, after the introductory ones at the beginning, is set in a different World or reality. The building doesn’t need to be as extensive as it would if I were to keep everything in the same reality, of course, but I do need to know much more about each one than ever lands on the page.
Why I’m Enjoying It Anyway
Despite the challenge, or possibly because of it, this has become one of the projects I most look forward to returning to. There’s something deeply satisfying about a story this large, where every answer seems to open up three new questions, and where the Muse keeps finding fresh corners to explore just when I think I’ve mapped the whole thing.
On the other hand, I have to make sure I’m consistent in my voice, keeping the vocabulary the same, and ensuring that my foreshadowing and backlinking don’t lead to plot holes when I’m editing and revising, and I remove or alter something.
When You’ll Hear More
I’m not going to promise a date, because regular readers know better than to expect one from me. But it’s real, it’s progressing, and at some point it’ll be ready to properly introduce itself to the world — in whatever shape it finally decides it wants to take.
For now, consider this your first official hint that it exists. More to come, whenever the Muse decides I’m allowed to say more.