When Worlds Collide

Reading Time: 2 Mins

I spent the majority of my writing time over the last two days composing a new draft of a query letter for Suddenly Normal. I had been introduced to this agent already and this opportunity to query came with a request for fifty pages, and they did not have to be the first fifty.

I wrestled this with so much and, in the end, I chose the first fifty because not only do I think them strong chapters, there would be no need to somehow inform the agent/reader of any context needed. My thinking was that if they do not want to see what happens on page 51, then I definitely haven’t done my job fully as a writer.

This means that I’ve taken a break from the WIP and I am having the darndest time getting back into it.

Apologies for the rough language.

I spent the last two days revisiting a world I spent 13 years writing about. Nothing out of the ordinary at all, but Toronto in the 1980’s and 1990’s is a very different place than the world I am writing about now, where demonic possession and quasi-futuristic technology go hand in hand.

Yes, the WIP is very much a departure from what I usually write, but I am finding that I am infusing the characters with the same amount of development and depth that I have in my past work, so maybe the two worlds aren’t that different after all?

Am I writing a coming-of-age piece of literary fiction with horror and sci-fi elements, or the other way around? I’m sure my characters will let me know.

That triggered the question, “What if they all existed in the same universe?”, which then led me to thinking, “What if everything I have ever written all takes place in the same universe?” and, well, let me tell you, that line of thinking has not led to a lot of productivity today.

I think the answer here is that I need a day separator between the two worlds. I dove in DEEP to find the right fifty pages and landed squarely back in a very comfortable place. It’s a hard place to leave because I am still just discovering the world I am writing about now.

It’s like your new work friends inviting you out but you’re exhausted from training and already comfy on the couch with Netflix on.

I heard back from the agent last night and I know I am in a very long queue, so maybe I can leave that world for a while?

I’ll give myself the day today to focus on things happening in the real world and get back to my work on demonic possession tomorrow.

Yep, that sounds exactly like something a writer would say, doesn’t it?