plot | Leena Maria

I’ve been asked when will the next part of the Nephilim Quest come out. Well – as soon as I get the plot planned and transferred into a timeline and from there into chapter plans. Only then shall I start writing. Still, when the plot is planned beforehand, the writing itself doesn’t necessarily take very long.

Just to show you the first step in planning: I have collected all the things that need to be addressed in the next book into a mind map (using Scapple). Here is the photo of part of it. (Yes, only a part). The cells are connected with dozens of arrows, showing which characters are affected by which events. I calculated this took me about 20 hours to make (and I already had many notes done before, never calculated how many hours they took before I decided to do a mind map)- collecting the details from the first book that need to be written about in the next book.

776 notes in all – ready to be transferred to the timeline which I will then turn into chapters.

I think this shows you cannot really just write whatever comes to your mind if you are writing a series. Planning is the key… And writing is a lot of work – satisfying, fun, demanding work.

And here’s the pic (sorry, it is blurry for a purpose – don’t want to reveal too much of the coming book yet)

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A week’s holiday was in order. Hubby and I decided to go sit by a pool in a sunnier climate for a week. The idea was to do nothing and get rid of work-related stress. Only eat, drink and be merry.

Guess twice did I succeed…? Well, a writer’s mind never stops working on the plot of the next novel. Which will be the second part of the Nephilim Quest series. And of course it happens in ancient Egypt (at least half of it does, as the story moves on different time levels). And Amarna is the place of choice in the second book. I admit it – I’m hooked to the New Kingdom period, and the royal house of Amenhotep III and Akhenaten (and yes, Tutanhkamon).

You would expect me to know my facts after studying Egyptology for five years, but it seems the more I read about the period, the more I realize I need to research more. Which is what I spent my holiday doing – reading about Amarna, making detailed notes (notice the little notebook), knowing I have several more books waiting at home on the same subject. Well, as I am the merriest when I can read and write, I had good fun.

And I got an idea for another book completely, not a fantasy novel, and thought the plot through when I wasn’t researching for Nephilim Quest. Or rather let my mind develop in on its own when I put down the Amarna research for short moments. (The good point about siesta is that you are relaxed and lazy enough to let your mind wander) Explained it all to hubby dearest when we were sitting at a romantic little restaurant. His smile widened as I explained the whole thing and when I finally realized how amused he looked, I asked the famous “What?” question.

Apparently it was fun to watch me talking about ancient Egypt (don’t ever get me started by asking something about the subject or you’ll have a full lecture). He asked when will I start lecturing about Egypt to others. Don’t have the time, I answered – with a full time job and writing and painting I have enough on my plate. Let’s return to the subject if I ever can survive with the income from my writing and can use my days as I please.

Now comes the question of where to get the time to write all those stories… Anyone have any spare time to sell?