Alright, people, I have an announcement to make.
We all (hopefully) know that I’m writing a book that hates me. Not only does it resist being written, it’s extremely disobedient and rebellious, and my characters make tons of messes that I have to clean up. It’s been a thorn in my side for two years now, and frankly, I hate it.
Why haven’t I garbaged it long ago, you ask?
Oh yeah, right. Like I’m just going to throw out my children whenever they get difficult.
HA.
I think not.
The fact of the matter is, no matter how much I complain, The Silvershaw of Glenborn is still my baby, and I love it—dirty diapers and all.
Still, even mothers need breaks from time to time.
And, as some of you know (and others don’t), after consulting God and the wisdom of others, I have come to a decision about how to handle my pain in the neck book:
I need a holiday. A very long holiday. And I don’t expect I shall return.
In fact, I mean not to.
*cue the dramatic music*
Okay, fine. I will return to it. But not for a while. I need time to regain my mental energy. So I shall be setting this book aside for an undetermined amount of time, and in the meantime, I will be embarking upon a new writing project, which—*gasp*—you’re not allowed to hear about yet.
Be patient, Precious. I don’t half know what I’m doing myself.
Of course, a decision like this doesn’t come without a few tears. This is the only book I’ve ever worked on, and leaving it behind for a new and unknown project is both terrifying and bittersweet. I know I’m going to come back, but I still feel like I’m leaving a little part of my author childhood behind. My entrance into the world of writing. My first book. My first characters. All that jazz.
I made the mistake of dwelling on this while I was super tired.
Not a good idea.
The result was me writing a tearful and heart wrenching goodbye letter to my characters. (Which I am NOT going to share with you.) However, after I was rested and once again in my right mind, I read over my heart wrenching, tearful, etc. thing, and realized that, while it was beautiful and poetic and all, it didn’t quite represent my relationship with my characters.
Therefore, I wrote it again.
I would like to share it with you as a parting tribute to the book that has shaped so much of who I am.
Even though you have no clue who these characters are, and thus, cannot quite appreciate it.
Oh well.
My Dearest Children,
I would like you all to know that you are brats.
Noyarc— You started out as Gandalf and ended up as Caesar Flickerman.
Explain to me how that works.
Sley— Dude. Seriously. Just relax. No one’s going to touch your stuff.
Emolas— I’m sorry I made literally everything bad happen to you. In my defense, you’re my favorite character, and it’s a proven fact that authors love torturing their faves. Don’t ask me why, but there it is.
Also in my defense, I gave you that cool scene with the light trick thingy where you blew everything up. And I gave you all those little moments where you’d be all pensive and enigmatic while staring into the distance, then suddenly say something really dramatic while simultaneously flipping your amazing hair.
(*cough* Emolas doesn’t actually do that. The Imaginary Boyfriend is not in my story.)
Lotch— Little kids scare me. Yet for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to have my secondary protagonist be a nine year old. Maybe that’s why Liriel doesn’t like you.
Liriel— I should probably say something sweet and sappy, since you’re my protagonist, but honestly, girl…
You’re a pain in the neck.
End of story.
Goodbye, book. I wish you had been as good to me as I was to you.
Like I said before, I don’t know what I’ll be writing next. Whatever it is, it will probably be horrible. That’s just the way my life works. I can’t win for losing.
But horribleness and cluelessness and all that clunky stuff aside, I do know one thing: Whatever my next project is, it will be an adventure.
So bring it on.
~Sarah
P.S. Remember what I said last time, about changing my gravatar name to ‘The Sarcastic Elf’?
I would appreciate it if you would disregard that.
Thank you.
The Sarcastic Elf 
I would die for Riley . . . lol
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BEST. PART. OF THE WHOLE. MOVIE.
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The letter *dissolves into a fit of laughter*! Way to go Sarah! Glad you are giving it a break. Happy vacation!
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Thank youuuuu!!! I’m glad to be giving it a break, too…
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Your poor brats. Maybe they’re happy to be rid of you too… 😂
Enjoy your vacaction. They’ll probably shape up while you’re gone, and when you return it’ll be a breeze. *choke* WELL YOU NEVER KNOW!
That letter.
And why don’t you just do the Rodyn story, eh? Because it’s not new, and is it connected?
*blinks*
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You are going to keep me humble yet. 😂😂😂 And I doubt they will shape up. They don’t like me, I tell you. Even though they wouldn’t have LIFE if it weren’t for me. But are they grateful? Oh NO, Precious. *whine whine whine*
AH, the Rodyn story. Actually… Huh. *tugs nose thoughtfully* It IS sort of connected, though less and less as more renovations happen. And I DO know part of the plot and characters… *grins creepily at Emolas* That story is all over the place though. It’s undergone massive changes as I learn more about cliches and not writing LotR rip-offs… 😂 I’m not even sure how much I can salvage yet. But it IS in the running…
WE’LL SEE, PAMELA. 😀
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Ungrateful wretches.
Well…COOL. I have no doubt whatever you do be will be thoroughly amazing though.
If you start a totally new project, you’ll have a nice good time of it now that you know how to not write LotR rip-offs. 😂 You won’t even have to fix any existing ones!
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THERE’S ALWAYS THAT. I do know how to not write LotR Rip-Offs. I suppose that’s a plus. I’ll probably just try to rip-off Narnia now…
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XD Well as long as it’s not a Paolini rip-off. Because if it were that, it’d be a mishmash-rip-off rip-off, and that wouldn’t be good.
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😂😂😂
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Wow. This is… well, it’s something I’ve had to go through way too many times for my liking. I HATE throwing away stories, so I just have a folder on my desktop that reads “On Hold” where I keep all of my dead/dying stories instead of putting them in the trash.
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Heh… more like “Permanantly On Hold”?
We writers have to do tragic things…
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Unfortunately so, yes…
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Girl, the unknown is insanely terrifying. Way to risk it! And I seriously doubt your next book will be terrible. Even if the characters sass back.
Though, I think character sass is a given, considering your nature. They must have some sort of defense against you. 😉
I left behind the characters of my youth, hmm, earlier this year, I think. It was weird, but refreshing. I’m still attached to those characters (they haunt me, occasionally. Probably for fun), but the break has been beneficial. You can do this, Sarah!
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I CAN DO THIS! Gabby said so. Therefore, if I fail, it’s your fault. *cheesy grin*
Character sass is a given. (Though sometimes they’re worse than me, which is a little… scary…) Fortunately though, they haven’t come back to haunt me… yet… Let’s hope your characters aren’t a bad influence on them in the land of childhood stories…
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I take full responsibility. XD
That is scary. 0_0 Hey! My characters? A bad influence? My children are ANGELS. 😉
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Oh my word. 😂 Now I REALLY want to write a letter to my characters. lol
“Liriel— I should probably say something sweet and sappy, since you’re my protagonist, but honestly, girl…
You’re a pain in the neck.”
I think all I’d need to do here is swap out Liriel for the name of my protag, Nora. This describes my relationship with her perfectly. (And I LOVE Liriel’s name btw. 😍)
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You really should. It’s so much fun. For one tiny second, I felt like I was finally getting back at them for being so mean to me.
We need to start a support group for people with rebellious characters.
(And thanks; I like her name too. Would you believe it was actually an afterthought, and I didn’t even realize what a nice name it was for two months? *headdesk*)
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😂
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Hey there Sarah! I’m the other Sarah. Great post, I totally know what you mean about your characters being rebellious….lol ☺btw, I read your about page, and Loki is awesome. ☺
-Sarah
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Another Sarah! AND an INTJ! (I was poking around on your blog… pretty cool stuff, girlie.) Welcome here! Double welcome because you like Loki. I give virtual chocolate to people who like Loki. 🙂
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Thanks! Ya, Loki is pretty awesome. I seriously need to re-watch all the avenger movies and stuff…aw, thanks for the chocolate! *hands you big bag of gummy bears and a latte*
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Sometimes it’s really good to take a break from writing. I know I’ve had to do that before. The best of wishes to ye on whatsoever writing project ye shouldst embark upon next!
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Lol!You killed me at the first sentence o of your letter–“My dearest children, I would like you all to know that you are all brats.” Oh my goodness that was epic. even though I’m super sad you’re putting this book away–it sounds awesome.
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Ahhh!!! I literally did the SAME THING for my characters when I ditched my old book!!!
I am very glad to have stumbled upon someone as crazy as I am.
*scampers off to explore every nook and cranny of the blog*
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