Project Galileo and Plans for 2020
Hi.
I know it’s been a while, and I’m grateful for your patience! I’m resuming a regular posting schedule, starting with an announcement of sorts:
I have a new novel manuscript underway, and I plan to have it completed by late fall 2020. I’d been struggling with another manuscript for years and finally woke up, realizing the scope is far too large for me and it would suffer as my first book. There’s another story I need to tell right now.
Project Galileo, as I’ve codenamed it, is that story. Today, I’d love to shed further light on what I have planned, at least to a degree.
Conceptualization
The idea for this novel really began as a short fiction concept back in October 2016. I envisioned a story where the setting proved to be both a blessing and a curse for key characters, keeping them together on the outside and torn to shreds beneath the surface at the same time. I also knew that I wanted to focus the narrative on specific characters who would often be misunderstood in the real world. As I fleshed out the plot and began to piece it together in my head, something happened. The muse who gifted me the story came back, gave my head a hard shake and told me to stop selling it short – literally. There was more to tell and, before long, I had a novel’s worth of plot points in front of me.
Ever since, I’ve been hard at work on the first draft, and I can’t seem to put the damn thing down.
Influences
The real-world setting itself plays a critical role that dangles every character like a puppet on fraying strings. Much of my own personal experiences growing up in a small town sequestered away from the rest of the world – for better and worse – have seeped into the pages of Project Galileo, and I’ll be returning several times to that little town throughout 2020 to conduct comprehensive field work while also furthering progress on the draft. As the sort of writer who can’t sit and work simply anywhere, I find that I’m only at my best when I work in this place. I can’t explain it, but perhaps you’ll notice that added depth in the final draft.
I’m not going to get into specific details or spoil anything, but there are some key influences that I want to highlight. Death Stranding by Kojima Productions (particularly, the way it spotlighted the power of emotion and characterization of setting) is likely the most significant one – it’s a deeply touching piece of storytelling with a very specific, unique atmosphere, right down to a soundtrack that left me utterly captivated. The same applies to the Martin Scorsese film Silence. Various musical artists and the stories they’ve told over the years have also resonated with me, especially Goldfrapp’s “Tales of Us” and Sarah McLachlan’s “Surfacing” records.
In addition, my professional career as a Content Marketing Specialist at an Ottawa-based digital agency has been a huge inspiration. To be specific, the work I’ve done for some wonderful clients in medical fields on psychology, the impact emotions have on perspective and reactivity, addictions and mental health has been particularly beneficial. I’m grateful for them and my incredible team every day. In many ways, the progress on my own fiction has helped me improve my craft in a more professional sphere, and vice-versa. At least, I hope that’s the case.
A Rough Timeline
Any writer who etches their plans in concrete is setting themselves up for one hell of a hard time, in my opinion. That said, sometimes, the plot speaks to you in such a way that your gut instinct drives you to map things out in a realistic manner. In such instances, you already know what’s coming, fuelled further by ambition and excitement.
The latter is what’s happened to me with Project Galileo without even intending it. Nearly a quarter of the initial draft is already complete, and I can confidently state that it will be finished by the end of fall 2020. Of course, that’s a subjective term – this is going to go through several rounds of edits, and I have a few respected editor connections in mind who I believe will give the story the respect I know it deserves, albeit without holding back on those slashes of red ink. I’m not pitching this until I know it’s ready, and it sure as hell won’t be on draft one or two.
I’m taking this journey one step at a time. My career in content marketing will always come first, but otherwise, Project Galileo is probably the one story I absolutely must tell. I hope it’ll be worth the wait. Feel free to follow along on this blog or on social as I post progress updates every couple of weeks.
Looking forward to sharing the journey with you!