Starting from scratch.

I can't believe I'm even contemplating this. 

I'm very much considering redoing Nearly Human.  Throwing away an entire year worth of work.  That is -- not even referring to the previous attempt, just write it from scratch.  Hide the original manuscript under the mattress, pretend it doesn't exist.

I like the ideas, the world, the characters of this story -- I just don't think the writing is as good as the stuff that came after that, and I think the plot pulled a clunker.

I pretty much like everything I've written after Nearly Human.  Starting with The Reluctant Wizard, I seemed to figure out -- to remember -- how to do it, along with the new and improved working process.

But I wouldn't have gotten there without Nearly Human.  Having to rewrite, rethink, restart that first book over and over again was like a training exercise, necessary for me to progress.

But it shows all the patches.  It clunks.  It runs along fine for a while, and then has an eye-rolling development.  And if I'm rolling my eyes, I know the customer will roll his or her eyes because I have a very high suspension of disbelief.

So I'm thinking of just starting from scratch.  It doesn't scare me, it kind of seems exciting.  I write very fast and smoothly now, and I want that sensation with this book.  Rather than try to "fix" it, I think I'd be better off just starting all over again.  When I'm done, I can lift passages, phrases, whatever I think is particularly good and put them in the new book.

But not until I'm done. 

Yes, it's very hard to throw away a year's worth of hard work.  But I want to feel good about whatever I release -- and I want to continue this series with these characters and scenario.  In fact, I've already written a second book, Wolflander, that I feel much more comfortable about.

In honor of the restart, I'm also going to change the name:  Faerylander is the new title.  (To go along with Wolflander, and the intended Ghostlander and Xenolander, etc. etc.)

So the series will be called Nearly Human, rather than the first book.


I still have to write the ending of Blood of Gold first, so we'll see how I feel after that, but right now, it seems like the right thing to do.