I'm starting to feel that spark again. It was a spark that I felt when the DTotA first started to grow, a spark that wasn't even present when I began writing The Alliance. But now it's starting to return, and I'm feeling that need to start writing something again.

So then, what's holding me back from just kicking an Inuva fic into full gear? Well, it's a combination of dying free time and fading ability. The Alliance didn't go as well as I had planned, and I think it was because I didn't wait long enough between idea and execution. So naturally when I was hit with this idea I wanted to lay back and wait until I was sure of what I was doing.

At this point, I'm somewhat sure I've got a story here. I've got my villians, my heroes, and my origins. However, I don't have the knowledge anymore. There are characters I want to use in the fic, and events I want to reference. There are things I want to make happen. But after a two year "break" of sorts from the storyline, I don't know if I have the knowledge to use some of the characters properly.

I could begin the fic anyway, and just go with what I want to do. But then I'd risk missing a few key character elements...the kind of stuff which I may not even realize wouldn't/shouldn't happen. One way to counteract this would be to invent some newer character, but this would pull the fic further and further away from the actual story.

There's also the risk that I could go into another 2 or 3 year funk and leave the fic unfinished for who knows how long. The readers of BZP were very patient with Te Mutunga, and I am recieving comments regarding The Alliance after all this time....but I dunno if the same would be said if it happened a third time.

What can be done? Well, I've already got a few ideas.

1. Plot the fic out better. From the point of view of the writer, Te Mutunga worked because I knew what I was doing. Towards the end, I actually had potted out chapter by chapter what I was going to do. This kept the story from getting lost or messed up as I wrote.

2. Use storyline characters regardless. I haven't read many of the books, so I don't know who's been used or to what extent. So there's a good chance most of the names and places I reference haven't been used much...so there's room to weave them into the story without risking a continuity mistake.

3. Lock the story in now, before the official plot gets moving. If I can start writing the fic now, there will be less official events to have to work around. If I start the fic in the planning stages, but don't start writing for a few months, it's very likely my facts would be outdated.

...

Hmm, I'm starting to get some confidence back. And I've gotten some good suggestions from the people who have been sharing their thoughts in the S&T thread as well as the blog entries. This'll probably be the last one for a while, but keep an eye out for the fic. Hopefully it's something I'll successfully kick off.