I just might have come up with the title for my on-again-off-again "ghost story" novel. I have it in quotes because it's not your typical entry into the genre. Many parts of it have been or are elusive for me. Some have been solved, others explored - yet the title has always been not even a ghostly vapor. But I think the Muses have granted me what it shall be called. Maybe I'll revisit what I've got on virtual paper for that book.Speaking of revisiting, I've also been on the NeverWorld. I had a re-read of what currently amounts to Book Two. I had begun writing it too many moons ago. So many that counting in moons makes no sense. I'd probably not seen it for a decade. I'd put it down when the window shut. Since then I've had some ideas for it and the next book (and other beyond three). I also, of course, reworked my original writings of Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between. But I'd actually been writing both of them at the same time. I'd bounce back and forth from the mid-past to the far-future from the story that began on stage. Well, a little while ago I felt an itch to bounce (Calm down, Pogocat!) back onto the magical planet.
I won't lie. It's terrible. But that's only a half truth. The story isn't terrible. It's the execution of it. But then, I'm being hard on myself. It's a relief to remember it's a mere first draft. I'd just been unfolding the story onto paper, heedless of craft. But it's also a fact that I can't help but try and shape it as it should be as I go. Attempts at emulating Barrie abound but I could see right through them. It just needs some tinkering there and lots of rewrites and cuts elsewhere.
The story, on the other hand, is still quite fun in my opinion. It has the same feel as the first book in that many characters are running/flying around engaged in various activities, shifting in and out of the situations which are actually all tied to the main event. I'm once again borrowing from folklore for this tale. A really interesting character shows up. I wish I could say I invented all of the quirks and traits. But it certainly is a blast playing with them. I also think it has a grand feel, worthy of the magnitude of the adventure planet. Yet there's not as much as I remembered. I'd been saying (and believing) that I'd half written. It's actually more like one-third. (Stop scowling, Halfway!) But that's just on paper. The tale is all there, just needs to be told.
So it looks like it might get a little inky for me in the future. Plenty to splash onto paper... even if it is sometimes virtual.
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