One of my current writing projects is Into Fang Wood, my 2008 NaNoWriMo novel. From humble beginnings, it erupted into a wild tangle of epic growth, demanding a rewrite and an intensive outline before all the hidden jewels could be unearthed. (Jewels and brambles. You’ll notice I mix’n'match my metaphors a lot.) I’m currently staring at the first 60k and slogging through the painstaking detail of completing its new outline, preparing to revamp and rewrite before I can actually move forward in the story. This is going to be one of those delightfully fat paperbacks.

Into Fang Wood is a fantasy novel set in the world of Ykinde – that link will take you to a treasure trove of information about the world and its creatures, including an atlas and general histories. In the midst of a blood-feud that’s lasted for centuries between the Lupos and Avan peoples, a new evil develops in the depths of Fang Wood and begins to spread its terrifying influence. Wolfrunner, a Panthera beastwalker, stumbles upon the dread secret of Fang Wood and becomes the catalyst for a battle for survival that will involve all the intelligent people of Ykinde – Panthera, Lupos, Avans, and humans. As the curse of Fang Wood claims more souls, Wolfrunner and the others must find and destroy the master who controls it… before the entire world falls under its shadow.

…or, you know, something like that. My skill at writing back-cover blurbs needs work.

IFW is one of the two primary projects that I have right now; the other, the Jubagh series, will be introduced in another post. I am completely enthralled to this story, which grew from a bumbling cub to a tentacular, knotty creature within the span of months. The original was simply a light character-based story about two Panthera – Wolfrunner, a feral shapeshifter, and Shieldbreaker, a staunch warrior – and their strange but functional person-to-animal relationship. Now, the story encompasses a world-threatening mystery, every sapient race on Ykinde, and a potential turning point in the Elderwar, the ancient blood-feud. It still manages to revolve around Wolfrunner and Shieldbreaker, but they’re so drastically changed by the experiences they survive that they’re entirely different people come the end.

That’s how it works, though. You plant the seed of a story, you give it the water of your time and the sunlight of your attention, and you watch as it grows beyond your wildest expectations. Into Fang Wood is going to be the manuscript that, once finished, I send out to agents to see if any take the bait. It may not be my greatest accomplishment, but by the end, I will be proud of how it’s grown. I’m only the gardener – it has a life of its own now, and I’m just along for the ride.

If you’re a story-teller – and I bet most of you are – how have your stories taken on lives of their own? Have you tried to control and corral them, or do you let them twist and burst forth?

Related posts:

1. Introducing Ykinde and Its People
2. Introducing the Jubagh series
3. My Sixth NaNovel

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