Spiral Reverie - An Author's Musings: Photography

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Places We Leave Behind

My current novel, Project Princess, begins in ruins. Not the ruins of some ancient civilization - 遺跡【いせき】, iseki, or 'historic ruins/remains/relics' - but 廃虚【はいきょ】, haikyo. The ruins of an abandoned building, or something more recent. In the case of my novel, the ruined building in question had been functional and inhabited mere weeks to months prior to where we join the protagonist, at a time in which the passage of time has not only become unclear, but relatively meaningless. Ruins have spent quite a bit of time on my mind in the past year.

The 'Stairway to Hell' within Hashima Island/Gunkanjima.

Project 27 Days

A sepia-colored town frozen in neverending winter.
A door slid shut for the final time.
The boy who had achieved complete emotional stillness departs.
Just as the train that devours memories arrives at the platform.
Strangers' paths cross.
Haunted, grasping hearts seek intimacy.
Those who travel the Kettenkrad Line will never be the same again.

Project 27 Days' first full draft was completed on the morning of March 4th, 2009. Most chapters had gone through several revising sessions by then. Presently, it's being revised further before I begin querying agents. Now the rest of the fall's all about agent querying. As of October 5th, the shift to the agent search/publishing phase began. PUBLISHING OR BUST!

The agent search continues through 2011.

Project Princess

The boy who reluctantly took up the sword becomes a monster.
The princess who would save the world vanishes.
And the boy who would conquer it calls for her return.
A despondent sky sheds resignation upon the world; the huddled masses close their eyes and disappear.
The most damaged men and women in the world lock eyes and shed blood as the monstrous swordsman seeks to hold love in his hands.
The End of the World hangs high over the world of Solan, and this man of stone golem arm and mountain heart wonders, "Is there any meaning in my actions?"