Literary Competition

'Tonight as I strolled along the foreshore to the Wall, the sky  was ablaze with stars. Below the living world slept peacefully. Curled up next to Dan, only Faith rested fitfully. It was cold, spring was still new. The flowers may have blossomed but the chill night air remained. Her belly was swollen, fit to bursting, 'Dan.' she whispered. He stirred then rolled over, snoring, 'Dan, the baby is coming!'

Dan was awake immediately and together they prepared to leave for the hospital, totally and utterly unaware of the unrest here in Elysium.' (Excerpt, 1st draft 'Elysium - the winding path')

Why oh why are opening scenes so hard to get right the first time? I have pictured this opening line in my head for months now, I have played around with the idea on many sleepless night and taunted and teased my self incessantly about putting pen to paper on the second installment of Elysium. Finally, feeling confident enough to sit in front of trusty old Burgundy, I thought I had the scene down pat, nothing could stop the eloquent flow of words...

I was wrong.

Let's back track a little and I'll explain myself. Now if you've read the previous 15 posts, you will know I am on the epic journey of a novice novelist, from first draft to published. Currently I am awaiting the return of the fourth draft of 'Elysium - the road home', from numerous friends and colleagues who are oh so kind in offering their valued advice before I attempt the fifth -and hopefully final before professional edit - draft.

I promised myself I would shelve 'Elysium' for at least six months before committing to the fifth draft. Having worked on it solidly (between uni study and child rearing) for almost 3 years now, both I and 'it' where in need of some space. However, now 3 months down the track, as you may imagine, I am getting a little anxious. I miss 'Elysium', I miss spending time with Angel and Joslin, Chelsea and Sara, Khai, Wynn and the rest of my lovely world. I miss strolling through Elysium Fields, smelling the freshly mowed lawn and spring blossoms. I miss Elysium Common and Central, the Archives and the Wall. I yearn to swim in the river and climb the mountains and sip tea at the table with Nan and Pop.

So I bravely ventured into the unknown world of a sequel. Don't get me wrong, I have always though there was more to Elysium than one novel, however I always imagined I would have the first novel finished, published and loved  by all, with the second and third already commissioned, before I made a start on the next instalment. 

Once again, I was wrong.

Can you see a pattern here? Yes, I do often have to reconsider my preconceived notions of what the future may bring, as can be seen. I am now fully committed to the formulation of a story and mapping out a plot. As can be seen by the example above, I have the opening lines alive inside my mind. The story is already unfolding, as we speak new characters are dying and being reborn. Joslin is about to return home, but wait...

What is the unrest I speak of, what is happening in Elysium that my words struggle to convey?

That, my dear friends, is for now locked inside my overactive imagination, the story still belongs to monkey mind. Monkey  Mind is the term I give my ever swirling, overflowing, erratic imagination when it has a great idea but cannot yet piece all the little bits together. The monkeys take hold of a thought and swing from their tails, thought to thought, tree top to tree top, maddeningly cackling to themselves while I try desperately to catch up.

And on that note, I will leave you all maddeningly trying to catch up with my ramblings. I am off to once again tackle the opening scene, I just have to project it up onto the cinema screen of my mind and the words will come...they will...I'm sure of it...almost positive...