I wasn’t going to write any more novels. I planned to help others write theirs instead, (and I still will) but the nature of true creativity is that it can neither be forced or neutered, and it flows best from a relaxed mind without an agenda. I’ve been meditating a lot lately, so it’s not surprising that something should pop up.
Though it may turn into one, I’m not thinking of it as a novel, because I do not want to limit what comes by squeezing it into any preconceived form. Though what I have written already hints at an overall story, the writings will remain without an agenda.
Remember Prunella Smith? I mentioned her as an after thought when I told you I wasn’t going to write another novel. She’s grown up since I first met her and instead of the half baked story I’d formed with my conscious mind (inherently less inspiring than those that come from a deeper space), she’s emerged as something much more real and interesting.
Worlds Within Worlds is the working title I’m giving to a series of writings about a world within a world within a world. The story has many layers, the most tangible being the world of Prunella Smith (known as Ella), an editor, ex-dancer and author. (Yes; she’s partially me.) World two is the world in her computer as seen on the screen of her laptop, and world three is the Magan world of Minion Hills within the hidden realm of Diamond Peak. Within that world are the esoteric layers as laid out in the Diamond Peak Series. I wonder if, and when, Ella will see the relationship between the apparent fantasy that she’s editing for an unspecified author and the reality of her experience in the ‘real’ world.
The story, for it seems that one is developing undirected from my subconscious, is of Ella’s musings as she edits the story of Kelee and her secret love Slade. Daughter of the Magan Lord Menhir and sister to Kestril – a major player in the Diamond Peak Series – Kelee’s secret liaisons are more than just the romantic kind.
Meanwhile, back in Ella’s world, she struggles with the meaning of her glimpses beneath the veil that separates her usual perception from the vibrant, pristine reality that lies beneath it. She wonders where reality ends and fantasy begins, and if Kelee’s world exists beneath the veil.
And then there’s Dita, the mysterious inhabitant of the World Wide Web. Why is Ella scared to open her inbox? And can she unmask the sock-puppets that infest her online world as surely the demons infest Kelee’s world. Can one women help the other?
I don’t know the answers to the questions above. Words simply began to take form in my mind one day and I began to write. I don’t know where it’s going and that’s its beauty for me as a writer . The story can surprise me. Perhaps it will become a novel, but perhaps it will never be more than a series of scenes posted on the web for readers to comment.
I invite you to join me on this journey. What you will read are first drafts, read through the next day and tweeked a little. I don’t doubt that I will ramble on and write scenes that are irrelevant when seen as part of a whole, but since I don’t know what the whole will be at this stage, I shall publish whatever I write. As the story evolves, I hope that you will help me decide which writings seem to be a digression.
How would I like you to participate? Please give me feedback on any aspect of what you read. You could consider the following?
- What do you think of the characters?
- Do you find Ella’s musings interesting or have I gone so far into the metaphysics that I’ve lost you?
- Does the story interest you or not?
- Do you see any poor grammar, word use or punctuation?
- Do you see any themes I could draw out further?
- Do you have any suggestions for the action in the online world? In my mind somewhere is the battle of the sock puppets or some such thing. What you suggest, though I may not consciously incorporate it, will have an effect on the finished product. At some point this story will end, whether or not I shape it further and create a product from it will depend on how it develops and what you tell me.
Watch out for scene one. It’s the next post. Coming hard on the heels of this one.