I'm a bit annoyed with myself at the moment. The story I was writing for the IBD2 anthology (
www.eneitpress.com) "
Daivadana" has sort of gone off the rails and I don't know what to do with it at the moment.
What started out as a story about ancient evils being dug up in a fast growing city built on the remains of 7000 years of villages and towns, has become more a story of politics! I'm 4500 words in and I haven't even made it to the 'Ancient Evil' yet. There have been lots of hints, but I thought I'd be there a lot sooner than this.
My main character started out (in my mind) as an archeologist, but I couldn't think of any great (and realistic) reasons for him to be doing what he was doing. Once I started writing though, this character revealed himself within the first three paragraphs as someone very different. He is obviously not an archeologist, but some sort of Contractor working for unnamed Governments, whose agenda is ultimately assassination.
The story now seems to have become more about parallels between the evils in the World as it is now (in the Central Asian areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan especially), and the evils of the past. I can see how the trajectories of these two strands will eventually collide. This is where things will (hopefully) get truly nasty.
But it seems now that I'm taking too long getting there. If I try and rush towards the ending now, the story will be unbalanced. If I maintain the pace I have been building from the start, the story might be too long to find a home.
On one hand, I'm happy that I'm writing a story that is actually trying to 'say something' about the world around us rather than just telling a straight story without a point. There are some pretty overt political thoughts and observations, as well as a lot of subtle sub-texts that have crept in for those who know anything of the history of the region. But, I'm also thinking it might be too much.
The story I had in mind wasn't going to be about the 'War on Terror', or Western financial backing of internal militant factions, or drug-running and biological warfare. It was just going to be a 'monster story'! A 'dig up ancient evil and pay the price' story. Now it is much more than that. It scares me a little.
I think I'm just going to try and keep writing. See where it goes. I might have a better idea of things once it is all done. Maybe then I can go back and (if it isn't the story I want) chop away until it becomes something more resembling the original idea.
How often does this happen to others? Do you find the story you start out writing can sometimes get away from you?
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