A: I love science fiction and fantasy and let my imagination fly. I think in terms of "what would I like to see with this book?", and then I go ahead and create. Forgotten Worlds lets me let loose. The difficult part is that, once I create a species/organization/planet, they're a part of the canon and I need to be careful for the next time I use that particular piece. I keep track of everything in a growing wiki file that started with my base ideas and evolved from there. I refer back to it periodically for reference.
Q: Who are the main bad guys of the Forgotten Worlds?
A: The Issan are religious zealots who worship the creature of death that they call Issa. The name is based on the sound the creature makes when it is able to connect with those in the vicinity of a weak dimensional barrier, a sort of a hissing sound like "issssaaahh". Obviously that would be hard to write every time, so it just gets written as Issa, or Issan for their worshippers. It was purely onomatopoeia. These Issan have no value of life, so they will enslave, torture, mutilate, and kill without hesitation or shame. Their god is death, so their whole culture revolves around the concepts of honor in death and dishonor to their enemies. It is a rigid, cold culture, which is in stark contrast to the Inari.
A: I have an outline of how I want the series to go, with room for adjustments. I do plan to resolve the subplots when they are each ready. Every book in the series will build on multiple subplots, although not all of them in every book. I know exactly how the series will end, so I already know how I want those subplots to play out, although I leave room for them to surprise me, such as in REMNANTS. I'm exploring more deeply the idea that the Inari were in that galaxy previously. I can't say any more than that it is revealing some connections. I feel like I'm juggling with too many balls and afraid of dropping them all, which is why I like the shorter length of these novels, which are barely qualified as novels at just over the minimum 40,000 words. It's just long enough to get in an episode but to also play with those subplots without being overwhelmed.
Short answer: yes, I will resolve them, just not necessarily as soon as readers may want.
Q: How many books do you plan to write? Why should readers start now if this is going to take awhile? Will you ever finish?
A: As I mentioned, I do have it outlined and know the ending of the whole series. Readers who start now have a chance to influence the plots of upcoming books with their input. I leave room in my outlines for other ideas. That's how the Dark Angel Chronicles went on into five books plus a novella, WHEN ANGELS CRY, and also into the Revelations series with SHARDS (the story of Leksel and Korali). Those were because of enthusiastic readers requesting more. Readers could have the same influence now on future books in the Forgotten Worlds series. I will finish, but only after I've satisfied myself and exhausted all the fun variations of stories I want to tell in this series. As for the number, I'm thinking a couple dozen in the Forgotten Worlds series should cover it, although a better range is 20-30 books.
A: Every writer is different. I write at my pace because I have a day job, a family, and my own set of health issues, namely autoimmunity, to manage on top of writing. Some days I sit down and can't stop writing and other days I can barely get out a few sentences. Every story is different also. I can usually write a first draft of the Forgotten Worlds books in about two months, but then I need time for several rounds of rewriting and editing. And then there's REMNANTS, which has gone onto 3 1/2 months to write a first draft. I had some health issues get in the way but also the story itself didn't know what it wanted to be initially. Once it got going, it really started to pick up speed to a normal pace for me. So, for me to write a good book, I need time. My goal is to publish a book every three months, but I'm a little behind because of REMNANTS being such a challenge.
Q: Can you provide any teasers or hints of what's to come in Forgotten Worlds?
A: I won't give away anything, but I will say that there's far more to the Inari-Feri issue than anyone, except maybe me, can imagine. There is so much more to come with the Paxons and Issan and Inari that I can't give away. I also have some side stories, like the upcoming RACING THE ORAST BELT. I anticipate that being a lot of fun. I have ideas for a lot of explorations of the galaxy's history and cultures that have developed. You have to keep reading each adventure with the multi-species cast racing to help Nya find the Starfire crystals before the Issan can complete their mission to free their god. There will be pain and joy in the lives of all the characters, space battles, exploring other planets, and everything that is fun about science fiction, particularly space opera. There will even be some romance.
That's it for now.
THANKS FOR READING!
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If you have questions you would like answered, please use the contact form at http://melanienilles.com/home/contact/ or comment on this post and I will share those in a future post.
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If you have questions you would like answered, please use the contact form at http://melanienilles.com/home/contact/ or comment on this post and I will share those in a future post.
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