This book, about a kidnapped bride, is set in a fantasy world, which is also a part of ours, called Earthwithin. The world was first defined by Fred Durbin in his yet-unpublished novel The Threshold of Twilight, to which The Delving is a sequel. In this column, I'll explore the characters and the process of creating this story. Each chapter, following the pattern established by Durbin, will begin with a poem; each poem will be posted on this site.
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After attending the World Fantasy Convention, Durbin returned and read Chapters 12 and 13; his response confirms my optimism about the continuing process. It is, however, slower now. I've been looking forward to arriving in Na Alto for a long time, but it's still around a few bends in the stretches of canal between the Twelve Locks.
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12 and 13
Parts of 12 and 13 are still rattling around in the J560, and I left it at home today, so I can't post one until later.
But I got a great inspration about 13, which is going to be different from what I had imagined--I deleted the first two paragraphs while I was sitting at the counter in the Eggs'R'Us diner yesterday morning, and I'm still really looking forward to the Twelve Locks and Na Alto!
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Past Chapter 10
Actually, Chapter 10 took quite a bit of revision after I had posted it--the problem of continuity with Threshold asserted itself. But the ideas still continue to flow--I've started on 11, and also have most of 12 in my head. I'm especially excited about the underground city of Na Alto.
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Still Going
The book is still very much alive. I've got maybe 3/4 of a chapter in the Jornada 560--handy since it rides everywhere with me on my belt--and I have lots more ideas for storylines. It's just that life has been unusually full lately!
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"Chapter 5"
My mind has been full of ideas, but I didn't get the chance to put them down until yesterday, sitting in the Giant Nazgul, er, Eagle, parking lot, keying in the start of a new chapter on my Jornada 820. Since the various characters are starting in different settings, the arrangement of the first few chapters is going to remain flexible--this might not wind up actually being the fifth chapter.
Flexibility is also the key word where writing locations are concerned. The Jornada 820, with its lovely near-full-size keyboard, is favored when there is room and space, but the 728 is almost always with me, since it's so much smaller. The Jornada 560, soon to arrive, with a thumb keyboard, will be used while writing and riding my exercise bike at the same time.
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The Process
Writing is the most fun when it seems effortless--when you can't wait to get to a computer and key it in! Unfortunately, the flow can sometimes run you into the wee hours of the morning! But there is nothing like the thrill of creating another world. In this case, I didn't exactly create the world, Earthwithin, but it's one that I've lived in, in my thoughts, from time to time, ever since I first entered it after reading The Threshold of Twilight. In that case, I was sort of watching the other characters, and walking with them. Now, since I'm writing what's happening in their lives, it feels more like I'm actually living it. Sometimes, though, decisions about what will happen can seem rather weighty.
I've never experienced the "other world" thing quite like my friend Fred, though. He just finished another book--one where he wrote one to two thousand words a day, for weeks on end. As he described the process to me, it seemed quite an ecstatic experience, but yet in a way he had to leave that world when he finished the book. Final editing is another kind of satisfaction, though, and he can also look forward to the day when he hears that a publisher has accepted it, which can take a great deal of patience!
Aaand--when he shares the book with his readers, they can enter that world as well--it will be less than a month for me!
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Characters
"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." The central character, Ithuriel, is of course from Threshold, as are the minstrel Tam Lin and many others. When I wrote my Missing Carolina, with Fred's permission I borrowed Harrison Beckman from Threshold. So far, one character from Carolina has migrated to Delving. There are new characters as well. And yes, there is a character who is blue, which you already know if you have read the first chapter!
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Starting Out
My first effort, written over a year ago, was very stilted, trying to write "by the rules." I got inspired about a month ago, and wrote two chapters, each describing the arrival of a character in this story. But I'm trying to remain faithful to Durbin's original concept, and in corresponding with him about his fragmentary beginning, I realized that it was the part of the story that had to come first, so I "fleshed it out," and he was very pleased with it. I had thought that the first chapters I wrote would become two and three, but now it seems I will have to write at least one more in between. When the sequence becomes a seamless whole, out to the end of the fifth chapter or so, I'll post the other chapters on StoryWrite (also accessible from my page here).
The poems for the chapters introducing characters were written along with the chapters, but the poem for the first chapter is one that I had written and posted earlier.
Fred himself is very busy finishing a new novel which he began only a couple of months ago, and he will soon be working with the publisher for final revisions prior to the printing of another one!
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