Dream of writing an epic?

[dominicgaj]

To get a feel for what this thread is about, Lord of the Rings would be the Fantasy literature example, Star Wars would be the Sci-Fi film example (although some would say the most recent three parts tainted this somewhat). Is there anybody there who dreams of writing their own epic of multiple stories (whether published or not)? Is there anybody there who has already done this and is pleased with what they have achieved?

Share your dreams and achievements here (Feel free to share as little or as much as you like to).

[Phy]

I've dreamt of writing an epic story since I was a kid watching the thunderheads grow and rage on the hilltop where we lived.

The world is named Aerie, and here there be stormfortresses, castles in the clouds that are home to the world's elite. They are steerable engines, naturally-occurring deliverers of rain, nitrogen, and lightning. Nothing is more awe-inspiring than to see two stormfortresses in battle.

Kish is a commoner, an earth-dweller, a farmer and a son of farmers. But he is in the wrong place at the wrong time and is caught on a cliff-top with his father as two stormfortresses do battle. After falling down into a cave, he discovers a secret about Aerie that will rock the social order and change the face of of his world forever.

Meanwhile, on the border with chaos, the Grey Watch report something building in the dark mists, an evil unlike anything the planet has ever seen before.

This is an idea of social revolution, technological expansion, and spiritual testing, all focused around the mystery of the great stormfortresses themselves. Their secret can save the world and its denizens, or destroy it.

I've been waiting for thirty years to write this story. I don't know if I have another thirty years to wait, so I'm busy writing out my million words of dreck now so I can tackle Aerie, Lord-willing, while I yet live. It's a race against time. I'm not writing this story now because I'm not ready, not by a long shot. Not a week goes by that I don't think about the great sky harbors, the colorful characters, the social struggle, the labyrinthine political intrigue, and the grand secret that lies at the very heart of this planet, this evil, this man.

I'm not yet ready for Aerie, but I'm getting there, one story, one chapter, one novel at a time. In the meantime, I can still see the stormfortresses in my mind's eye, and I write, and I wait.

[DrRita]

That sounds like some great epic, Phy! Get writing so I can get reading!!

[Tarin]

Do I dream of writing epics? Oh yeah...

But, for me, epics aren't so much about multiple-volume works or fantastic settings. For me, it's all about character and emotion. Epics are stories of sweeping danger and catalysts, with heroes who are forced to rise above their situations to become more than they ever thought possible and to sacrifice more than they ever dreamed they could.

With every word I write, I'm trying to write a story like that. My crusade novel Behold the Dawn is in some ways an epic, in that it deals with the vast scope of man's battle with himself and with God; but at the same time it isn't, because it's a small story with its focus on that of a single human relationship.

The fantasy novel I'm currently working on, Dreamers Come, probably falls more squarely into the realm of what most people consider "epic," due to its setting. And it tackles (though how successfully I don't know) the grand theme of destiny.

I will admit that I'm a bit humbled in regard to that theme at the moment. I watched the movie One Night With a King recently. How can you write a greater story of destiny than that of Esther?

[kerrig]

Do I dream of writing epics? Oh yeah...



I will admit that I'm a bit humbled in regard to that theme at the moment. I watched the movie One Night With a King recently. How can you write a greater story of destiny than that of Esther?

Did you enjoy the movie? I have watched it with dh and once each with our 3 kids. After reading the book, I thought it was very good and very close to the book.

[kerrig]

I have dreamed of writing an epic. But I don't know enough about doing so to even try.

[paulchernoch]

Tarin: I recently rented "One Night with the King" myself. I thought it was excellent. My kids even liked it - they wanted to see it twice!

Phy: I loved the animated film "Castle in the Sky". I think the flying-city idea is a lot of fun. Go for it!

dominicgaj: All I have to do is try to describe my commute home and it sounds like an epic (in the long-winded sense). I may not be Odysseus, but I have always wanted to write an epic. I started one when I was a teenager, but after a hundred pages I quit. My current effort is growing into one by accident. It was supposed to be about one man's solitary journey, but I got carried away. Thirteen hundred pages into it, I suppose it is an epic, if two factions of demons, the Earth and two alien races, the angels and saints, and four thousand years of backstory plus twenty-two years covered in the narrative counts as epic. From a contest for one man's soul to a battle for the fate of the whole universe, I think I have a case of what managers call "scope creep".

- Paul

[Phy]

That sounds like some great epic, Phy! Get writing so I can get reading!!

I wish I could. I'm not ready. If I attempt this now, at my current journeyman's status, I'd not do it justice. I prayed about this four years ago, and was content then to wait until I could do it justice. What I'm writing now is appropriate practice, and I'm writing as fast as I can.

It's hard to hold off on one's dreams, but I did it before by holding off saving my love for marriage, and I'm doing it again saving my epic for when I'm mature enough to do it right.

[Ransom v. Unman]

I can empathise. Sometimes, I think I began writing my epic far too soon.

My epic, however, takes a different turn than most. Perhaps it is dubious to call it an epic, even if it appears so in my mind.

My creative aspirations are formed by what Tolkien and Lewis described as Northnerness, as well as sehnsucht. But equally formative has been my understanding of social ills and cultural change. So what I intend to write I would describe as "a postmodern fantasy", influenced about as much by Thomas Pynchon and Terry Pratchett as J.R.R. Tolkien and Orson Scott Card.

The story goes along these lines... In the beginning, a man finds himself falling from a white sky into what he believes is a bottomless black pit. He soon sees that it is not a black void, but a teeming valley, filled with armored monsters and horrors beyond imagination waiting to devour him. In the last moment before he lands in their midst, he cries out to God for mercy.

Something must have gone right, because the man does not find himself being clawed and devoured by the monsters, but instead is lying on the floor of a luminescent plain with a terrible wound in his side. But no sooner does he begin to feel secure than he sees a trail of explosions heading his direction. He finds a gun next to him, and vaguely recalling that if he pointed it at his enemies that they would die. Seeing the flames as his enemy, he tries this, only for his gun to explode in his hands. Soon he is face to face with two of the Lords of the Old World, Chaos and Aggression. They live now in the Land of Plastic Explosives in the Little Odd Castle of DOOM! They take the man in, as well as a compatriot of his who also fell from the sky, and nurse them back to health.

The man finds out that he came from a place called the "Negative Lands". "Evil lands, actually" notes Chaos, "but the people in the government don't like us talking about 'good' and 'evil' these days. Evidently, it upsets the Goblins and the Politicians." The man's memory is slowly re-trained, but for all he uncovers more questions arise.

It soon becomes obvious to those who are working with the two men from the Negative Lands that they unconsciously wield great and evil powers, and may be agents of hell's own plot to overthrow the world.

The plot digresses from this point to a series of adventures told from the man's point of view. There is a great deal of societal, artistic, theological, and philosophical commentary I am endeavouring to pack within the story, while also balancing that line of telling a good, solid story in itself.

I have the vision in my mind of a final climax on the very borders of Hell itself (i.e. the Negative Lands) where the MC ultimately has to confront the evil that dwells in his soul - either giving into it and becoming the monster he has always feared, or relinquishing it to God's power to become the man he was supposed to be.

Anyway, that's the epic I want to write, and I've already started working on it. It's the "big novel" I sometimes refer to in my fiction-workshop posts. Unlike Phy, I started writing this fairly early in my life, perhaps too early. The story and the world it takes place in continue to grow as I continue to write, and I often wonder like Phy if I'll ever finish it.

Anyway, there's my epic. Well, one of 'em at least. I hope it turns out well... :o

[Ransom v. Unman]

Tarin: I recently rented "One Night with the King" myself. I thought it was excellent. My kids even liked it - they wanted to see it twice!

Phy: I loved the animated film "Castle in the Sky". I think the flying-city idea is a lot of fun. Go for it!

dominicgaj: All I have to do is try to describe my commute home and it sounds like an epic (in the long-winded sense). I may not be Odysseus, but I have always wanted to write an epic. I started one when I was a teenager, but after a hundred pages I quit. My current effort is growing into one by accident. It was supposed to be about one man's solitary journey, but I got carried away. Thirteen hundred pages into it, I suppose it is an epic, if two factions of demons, the Earth and two alien races, the angels and saints, and four thousand years of backstory plus twenty-two years covered in the narrative counts as epic. From a contest for one man's soul to a battle for the fate of the whole universe, I think I have a case of what managers call "scope creep".

- Paul

-Miyazaki is a master of animation.

-Your observation about how your everyday life feels like an epic is what prompted Joyce to write Ulysses.

Just thought I'd note Paul. ;)

Tarin - your mastery of craft continues to amaze me. If you're writing a fantasy novel, I believe there is hope for the genre!

Phy - Write it when God tells you to. Even though I have my doubts about the execution, I feel strongly that God does want me to finish "the big novel". He'll polish and shape everything as needed. Best wishes mate!

[dulcigal]

Anyway, that's the epic I want to write, and I've already started working on it. It's the "big novel" I sometimes refer to in my fiction-workshop posts. Unlike Phy, I started writing this fairly early in my life, perhaps too early. The story and the world it takes place in continue to grow as I continue to write, and I often wonder like Phy if I'll ever finish it.

Hmm...I know this feeling. BUT--I guess I am, at this moment, living my dream.

My epic was born 8 years ago, has gone through three full sets of characters, at least twelve-thirteen drafts or partial drafts of scenes of three successive books, was set down, picked up, analyzed to the extreme, tossed away 400 pages...and is now finally being birthed beneath my fingers. My mind says I am not up to the task--my heart says it will be born no matter my current skill, so I'm running with it, breathlessly I might add!

My epic is space fantasy, in a galaxy where ships must catch the waves to ride the stars. It concerns Brenin, the ruler of an Empire of kingdoms whose tragedies in his life lead to his bringing on the downfall of his empire, and who is himself forced into slavery. And it concerns the journey that it takes to bring both emperor and empire to redemption.

This story has been on my heart for years, has been 500,000 of my "million words of dreck"--if I don't write it now, I never will! And still, after all this time it is still new to me: I thought I started with a vast outline and cast of characters, and still they are changing before my eyes and the story is telling itself.

[Tarin]

Did you enjoy the movie?

Yes, I enjoyed it very much. I was surprised to find the reference to Haman's Agagite heritage - I've never seen anyone else mention that before. I haven't read the book, but it's definitely on my list!

I wish I could. I'm not ready. If I attempt this now, at my current journeyman's status, I'd not do it justice. I prayed about this four years ago, and was content then to wait until I could do it justice. What I'm writing now is appropriate practice, and I'm writing as fast as I can.

It's hard to hold off on one's dreams, but I did it before by holding off saving my love for marriage, and I'm doing it again saving my epic for when I'm mature enough to do it right.

Novelist and poet Margaret Atwood once said something that struck me as supremely truthful: "You might not know when you're ready to write a story. But you'll always know when you're not ready." That's a bit of a paraphrase, but you get the idea. I've found that to be so very true in my own writing. So just wait on God's perfect timing! And when you do decide to start writing, definitely post it on CW!;)

Tarin - your mastery of craft continues to amaze me. If you're writing a fantasy novel, I believe there is hope for the genre!

Ah, gee... You obviously haven't seen my rough draft!!!:eek: Thanks for the encouragement, Austin. It helps!:)

[silumenye]

I am writing a series of fantasy novels that covers many hundreds of years. I started with one book, but then all of a sudden I could see books stretching in all directions. I don't know where they'll stop. Help!

[paulchernoch]

I am writing a series of fantasy novels that covers many hundreds of years. I started with one book, but then all of a sudden I could see books stretching in all directions. I don't know where they'll stop. Help!

No help here. My one volume became a trilogy. The third volume is getting long enough that thoughts of splitting it into a fourth book are beginning to tempt me. Noooo!

- Paul

[dominicgaj]

Wow, I'm impressed where this thread has gone. You all have so diverse epics that you are writing/wanting to write. It's made for enjoyable reading.

Not a week goes by that I don't think about the great sky harbors, the colorful characters, the social struggle, the labyrinthine political intrigue, and the grand secret that lies at the very heart of this planet, this evil, this man.

I can still see the stormfortresses in my mind's eye, and I write, and I wait.

I know how you feel Phy. The first story (which happened to be book one of my epic) that I chose to write and publish around 6 or 7 years ago will probably now end up being one of my last because I realised I'm not ready for it yet. I went back and started to re-write it about 4 times. Even just the other day, I made an important change to it (in my mind, not on paper. Only about 10% of it is on paper at the moment) that is going to strengthen the story so much. I want to share more about it but I can't as it will spoil the story. It won't be till about book three that the reader starts to get a clue about what is really going on.

What I can share though, is the below:

It will be an adventure gamebook epic that can be read in order from one to the next or as a stand alone adventure. It will contain about 10 books. It is a Fantasy series. The world is one where the physical, the spiritual and the allegorical are all intertwined. The spiritual goings-on are seen with the naked eye more so than you would see here on Earth. The really fun part is that the allegorical representations will actually play out as physical events. (I'm going to have a ball with that). It will all start out with a Winged Serpent (evil) who will travel to small town and turn it from a quiet, stable community into an absolute unstable, disrupted mess. Rescuing the town and its people will not be easy. Many mistakes will be made by the good guys, there will be betrayals, danger, full-on battles between huge armies, plot-twists, red-herrings, multiple scene settings (forests, mountains, prisons, dungeons, cities, plains etc) and the ultimate foe to battle against will be a lot bigger than just the serpent.

I can easily start daydreaming and see the major parts of this story play out as a movie in my mind, quite often. In those times, normally something new gets added into the story.

That sounds like some great epic, Phy! Get writing so I can get reading!!

I concur.

Do I dream of writing epics? Oh yeah...

I watched the movie One Night With a King recently. How can you write a greater story of destiny than that of Esther?

I'm hearing more and more about this movie and will have to consider watching it. It sounds quite good.

Tarin: It was supposed to be about one man's solitary journey, but I got carried away.
- Paul

Tee hee. It's easy to do, I know.

I wish I could. I'm not ready. If I attempt this now, at my current journeyman's status, I'd not do it justice.

Same here. I hope to do it justice (my own) one day too.

-Phy - Write it when God tells you to.

Perfect advice Ransom v. Unman. I know for sure it's not time for mine yet.

My epic is space fantasy, in a galaxy where ships must catch the waves to ride the stars.

The above interests me, what do you mean when you say "catch the waves to ride the stars? I am thinking literally there.

you'll always know when you're not ready."

Great quote!!

[ProfessorAlan]

I have one finished manuscript (a suspense thriller) that I will spend the next three months polishing, and I have dreams of turning it into a series . . . . . but it would not fit the definition of "epic."

[kaulimus]

I finished a novel when I was in high school and began a 'second part' that was very much an epic in the most traditional sense of the word. I had planned where it would go and I must say, I'm still in love with the story. Since then, my writing has grown so much, and my perspective on what 'good' writing is has certainly changed. Looking back, it's all a little too much like Lord of the Rings. Perhaps one day I'll return to it, finish out my four-volume plan, rewrite that first book to make it a little fresher... For now, I'm focused a little more on contemporary fiction.

Best of luck to all who desire to write epics,
-Jake

[dominicgaj]

Looking back, it's all a little too much like Lord of the Rings.

(Nodding head in agreement). That's the danger for us fantasy writers. I agree and understand. Either LOTR or Narnia. :)

[Ransom v. Unman]

(Nodding head in agreement). That's the danger for us fantasy writers. I agree and understand. Either LOTR or Narnia. :)

Or in my case, The Chronicles of Thomoas Covennant the Unbeliever. :rolleyes:

(I think my books are better than those though! :mad: Stinkin' Stephen R. Donaldson ripping me off ten years before I was born!)

[Tarin]

:mad: Stinkin' Stephen R. Donaldson ripping me off ten years before I was born!)

LOL! I share your pain!!!:rolleyes:

[dulcigal]

The above interests me, what do you mean when you say "catch the waves to ride the stars? I am thinking literally there.

Well, can't say it's a concept that I've fully hammered out. But yes, it is literal. Ships deploy sails and "wind-catchers"--and the galaxy has currents and "fish"--huge alien blobs that ships get to swallow them so they can ride interworld-corridors. The galaxy is, literally, shaped like a spring, and the hollow middle is open space that can only be traversed by corridor fish or by wrapping a ship in their hides. And I can get away with this because I write space fantasy, not hard science! :)

But I'm not sure how much of that there will stay in the finished product, because the fish thing is seeming to be some hybrid of David Feintuch's fish in the Seafort series, and Douglas Hirt's gormerins in the Eden Chronicles. Tends to be an idea needs churned and composted before turning into anything original...

I think we all have a common thread of tending to borrow too much--even subconsciously, really--from the works that we really admire. My fault would probably lean heavy on the Star Wars and Star Trek sides, with a bit too much Seafort sprinkled in as well.

[mel3]

Fantasy/epic, sometimes it is hard to separate the two.

[dominicgaj]

Well, can't say it's a concept that I've fully hammered out. But yes, it is literal. Ships deploy sails and "wind-catchers"--and the galaxy has currents and "fish"--huge alien blobs that ships get to swallow them so they can ride interworld-corridors. The galaxy is, literally, shaped like a spring, and the hollow middle is open space that can only be traversed by corridor fish or by wrapping a ship in their hides. And I can get away with this because I write space fantasy, not hard science! :)


Wow, that just further proves why I have no idea when it comes to the Sci-Fi genre. I would never have thought of anything like that!!! !thumbsup! I'll stick to Fantasy.

[alison.strobel]

I would LOVE to write an epic. But I don't think I'm an epic writer. Kind of a bummer, really. But I get so sick of my characters by the time I'm done with a 100k word novel, I shudder to think what I'd put them through simply out of spite if I tried to carry them on to multiple installments. ;)

[silumenye]

Well, in my case, I don't reuse characters in more than one book - well, very occasionally. At the most, two books might have the same characters. My series - when finished - will cover generations, whole family lines. My problem is I keep asking: Where did that come from? What is this person's background? I keep getting further back. So, if you want to write on epic, don't be afraid that you have to use the same characters.

[alison.strobel]

silumenye said:
"Well, in my case, I don't reuse characters in more than one book - well, very occasionally. At the most, two books might have the same characters. My series - when finished - will cover generations, whole family lines. My problem is I keep asking: Where did that come from? What is this person's background? I keep getting further back. So, if you want to write on epic, don't be afraid that you have to use the same characters."

Oh, now that's an interesting idea! I'd never thought of that before! Hm, I think I could do that. You've really given me something to think about there, thanks! :)

[DearPrudence]

I've tackled a few epic poems before, talk about time consuming.

[Naomi Musch]

I think my def. of epic might be a little different than some of what I'm seeing here. I don't think that an epic has to go beyond one volume, or that it is confined to the fantasy/sci-fi genres. Epics have been around forever, and I think that they are any story with a broad scope, big themes, and lots of characters whose lives interweave or not. Lots of historical fiction could also be considered as epic. Think War and Peace for example. It seems that most epics, do however, involve war or battles of some kind.

Here's funny. I re-wrote Beauty and the Beast some years before Disney decided to do a movie. I call it "Trevelyan: an epic retelling of Beauty and the Beast". I just figured that there had to be so much more to the story than what I was finding in 25 page fairy tale books. So much like you fantasy writers, I expanded my fairy tale to a world of faeries, wizards, elves, abominables, giant leeches, snow mites, and of course, swash-buckling heroes. It was great fun and nothing like what I usually write. I ended up with a satisfactory 400 pages, and my kids all loved it.

[Momra]

I'm not sure that everyone knows when it is time to do anything. Stephen King threw away his first novel thinking it was horribly written. His wife fished it out of the garbage and talked him into submitting it. 'Carrie' turned out to be well accepted and started a great career. I wonder if we should always be wondering and open to being pushed along in our journey.

[Tarin]

I think my def. of epic might be a little different than some of what I'm seeing here. I don't think that an epic has to go beyond one volume, or that it is confined to the fantasy/sci-fi genres. Epics have been around forever, and I think that they are any story with a broad scope, big themes, and lots of characters whose lives interweave or not. Lots of historical fiction could also be considered as epic. Think War and Peace for example. It seems that most epics, do however, involve war or battles of some kind.

That pretty much lines up with my definition of an epic.!thumbsup!

Your retelling of Beauty and the Beast sounds excellent. I love retold fairy tales! Sometime this year, I hope to begin a co-writing project that combines Robin Hood and Sleeping Beauty. Should be a barrel of fun!

[Alice]

Don't know if this counts as 'epic,' but I finished a sci fi "war novel" about wolf-like aliens and humans, with Christian themes in it, when I was about twenty.

Then a year or so later I wrote the sequel, which starred many of the same main characters and some of their children.

So far I haven't written any move novels in that universe, though. No trilogy deal here; I couldn't come up with another story just to make a third book.

[javier222]

let me know if you do write one.