The Origin of "The Wayfarers"

If you signed up for my newsletter, then you have already heard the news that in less than two weeks I will be attending the Atlanta Writer’s Conference! I’ve signed up to pitch my fantasy duology, The Wayfarers, to an editor as well as an agent, which is super cool. While I’m approaching this experience more excited for the opportunity to get feedback rather than the intent of getting a book deal, this is still an incredibly incredible opportunity. But you may be thinking, what is The Wayfarers?

If you follow my Instagram, you’ve seen me post some character illustrations, unofficial book covers, and word count progress updates, but haven’t heard any details on the story. Much of that has to do with my intention to pursue traditional publishing. I’m not all that familiar with what agents and publishing companies would consider “already published” work. I have read mixed views on this. Some believe posting a quote from a manuscript on Instagram or Twitter would make that line “published”, while other sources say that’s not the case, and I’m not about to take my chances. Another reason for my secrecy stems from the fear every artist or writer has: the possibility of getting my work/ideas stolen. Though, I do understand that’s probably an overreaction. In this day of age, it has become more difficult to steal another creator’s work, not to mention I have been posting about this series for over two years now, so any instance of someone stealing my content could be traced back to me (probably). But anxious thoughts die hard.

But I still want to offer my followers something, a tidbit–a taste, if you will–about The Wayfarers. I am unbelievably excited and in love with this project, and I want you all to be anticipating its potential release too. And I understand it’s hard to get invested in an unpublished writer’s work in general, much more so when there’s little information on what it is they’re writing. I can’t say I will spill the entire plot–or even that much of it–but I thought I would create this post to discuss the beginning and origin of The Wayfarers. What inspired me to write this story? Where did the idea come from? Well, let tell you.

I got the bare-bones, first hint of the plot back when I was a junior in high school. That would be…over three years ago, which is insane to think about. I was taking an advanced fiction writing course at the time with an amazing teacher who taught me everything I need to know on the basics of writing. That class specialized in setting the foundation of understanding literature and short stories, and I was working on a project I was incredibly dedicated to at the time. However, I knew my end goal was to ultimately write novels, and learning to write short stories was the steppingstones to getting there.

I think the hardest element about being a writer, is learning how to finish a story. If you write, then you probably understand this better than anyone. A big factor of this comes down to self-motivation, discipline, and dedication. I can’t tell you how many unfinished documents I have stashed away containing potential stories I wrote twenty pages of and forgot about or got bored with. So, learning how to finish something, even if it’s a 5k word short story, really motivated me to look towards something bigger as a project.

While I was working on short stories my Junior year, I started this notebook that I still use to write every idea I have. Even if it’s small, even if I don’t think it will go anywhere, I make sure to jot it down. And one day I was messing around in class and thought of something brilliant. A little fact about me, most of my story ideas begin as complete nonsense. My original plots are often utterly illogical and are made for the purpose of being stupid and comical. So, sitting in that classroom I thought of the title “Treasure hunters Treasure Hunting for Treasure.” Stupid, right? Well, that was the whole point. I was talking to a friend during this brainstorming session, and was having a heck of a time saying things like, “What if my main character is a rabbit who is terrified of everything around him? How would he act going on a big adventure around the world?” And I was writing down this nonsense, coming up with these strange animal characters, to only put the entire idea away and forgot all about it. It was ridiculous, after all, and there wasn’t anything I could do with it at the time.

Then COVID hit us. With the rise of the pandemic, my high school shut down for the tail end of my junior year, and I was stuck inside. Honestly, completely setting aside the trauma that arose in most of us from the lack of social interaction and being afraid of this virus, I didn’t have that bad of an experience. Being in isolation gave me the time I needed to start a larger project. It took being in quarantine for about two weeks before I started losing my mind and needing something to do. So, what was my solution? Well, I was going to write myself a book. And it was with this goal in mind that I opened my brainstorming notebook and found the single page containing the infamous “Treasure Hunters Treasure Hunting for Treasure.”

And I thought, “Well, this is something.”

In this moment of boredom, I saw potential in the story, and I basically started from scratch. For starters, the characters were no longer going to be animals, and I worked to give my idea depth. I started asking questions, diving into the minds of these characters I didn’t yet know. My older sister might remember this era of mine. She’s an artist, and while she painted, I sat in her room just researching and writing all my ideas down. It was honestly incredibly motivational to work alongside an artist. It set up the mood of pure creative intention. She actually came up with one of my character’s names: Rucklin. (Apparently, he’s a Star Wars character form one of the side shows. Don’t ask me who he is, I have no idea.) And from there, once I knew who these characters were, everything took off.

I went a little crazy with the whole development of the first book. It became an obsession, and that perfect feeling of energy and motivation is something I haven’t really felt since. Writing the first book taught me how to plan. I had never outlined a novel before. The few times I tried to write a book, I just winged it with an incredibly broad concept in mind. Doing that made it impossible to complete anything. So, I outlined the shit out of this book. I wrote every plot point and character arch down on sticky-notes and plastered them on my bedroom walls. It made my room look like some sort of serial killer’s hideout, but it worked. I needed that visual aid. And soon, I discovered this story wouldn’t be just one book, but two. This project was so much greater than I initially imagined. Suddenly, I was creating the entire lore of this fantasy universe, creating these gods and their origins. I got to know my main character and how she’s this incredibly flawed, very real person that is placed right in the middle of it all.

Out of all the ideas I’ve had, the origin of The Wayfarers is my absolute favorite. It tracks the progression of my thinking, how I took the most random idea and turn it into something complex and real. It also just has the most wild plot evolution ever.

By the time quarantine ended and I was able to begin my senior year, I had written 250 pages of my manuscript. It had been around four months since I started planning, and I had gotten further in this story than I thought possible. I signed up to take my teacher’s fiction writing course a second time. My high school was incredibly small, so she was able to mold the course around me. And, instead of writing short stories like I had the year before, my main task was to complete my manuscript. It is all thanks to my writing instructor I was able to complete my first novel. She offered me what every writer needs: time and unmatched support. And during the length of my Senior year, I was able to not just complete my first novel, but most of the second draft as well.

One of the largest conflicts I ran into when writing my first draft was at the 200-page mark. Because, you see, no matter how much I planned and sketched out the plot before starting the writing process, I was still going to discover new things about the story and characters when I began drafting. So, it was at that halfway point that I knew the first 100 pages were going to have to be completely redone. And then came the crossroad. I had two options: I could stop where I was in the draft, go back and rewrite those 100 pages before continuing, or finish the manuscript and revise later. Luckily, I had made an amazing friend who also just happens to be a talented writer who gives honest feedback (so, a true gem). She gave me the best advice I needed to hear in that moment. She told me to finish the draft. And so, I did.

One of the most valuable lessons to learn when writing is to not edit as you go. That’s a whole other process that comes later. It’s counterproductive to go back and fix paragraphs right after you type them and gets in the way of completing your manuscript. First drafts are designed to be rough and in need of revisions. Their purpose is to just lay out the broad story. If you do that, then you succeed, even if you think you’re writing is crap. If I had gone back to rewrite those pages before completing the manuscript, I wouldn’t have finished my novel when I had, and it wouldn’t have gotten the same results. Was it unbelievably hard to not rewrite those scenes? Heck yeah. But I persevered and I still try to stick to that same advice as I continue to write.

So, where is The Wayfarers today? Well, after finishing high school, I went off to college to study creative writing. I finished the second draft of my novel in the first semester and started chugging away at the final book (I’ve been calling it Volume Two.) Planning and drafting this second novel, however, didn’t go how I expected. I figured I would have that same zap of motivation that left me crazed with inspiration like I experienced with the first book. But, to make a long story short, college turned out to be much less exciting and enjoyable than I was hoping, which heavily influenced my ability to write. So, I had to come up with a different method. And it was also at this point I discovered I wouldn’t have just two books in this series, but a novella as well. (It just keeps growing, I guess.)

To make this easier to digest, here is the entire series laid out in order:

Volume One: The Wayfarers

The Crestfallen (Novella)

Volume Two: ???

(Some titles are a work in process, but I imagine The Wayfarers will stay the same.)

So, my freshman year of college was filled with me working on the Novella and Volume Two off and on, not really having a solid schedule or flow of writing inspiration. After having a really rough second semester for personal reasons, I also came the conclusion that I absolutely hate college and I don’t want to waste my time getting a bachelor’s degree. *Gasp* I know. College is an incredibly valuable resource that can help many people reach their life’s goal. However, I quickly realized that it won’t help me reach mine. For a while, I thought I would get a degree in creative writing so I could be an editor while I write and publish my books on the side. However, I don’t need to spend thousands of dollars draining myself of energy to get there. I’ve never been fond of the way school and education is formatted. I love learning, but I hate the pressure of getting good grades and needed to dedicate dozens of hours a week studying. It’s just never been for me. I like having educated conversations and learning things on my own time. So then developed my new life plan.

After weeks and weeks of fighting with myself and my own pride, I decided I would finish with an associate degree in arts. That way, I am at least leaving with something I can easily build on if I ever decide to return to college. And when I finally came to that conclusion, I can’t put into words how relieved it made me feel. So, as a side note to whoever needs to hear it, it is perfectly okay to live your life against the “norm” and doing what’s best for your mental health.

After finishing my first year, I spent the summer trying to dive into finding the flow of writing again. I went back to plan the outline of my final books and spent many early mornings writing before going to work. But, once my friend and I decided to go to the Atlanta Writer’s Conference, those projects had to take a full stop. I spent the rest of my summer working on draft 3 of The Wayfarers, filtering out scenes and character arcs. That took some time, but I got it done shortly after school started up again. And now, I’ve gone back to working on the Novella while also trying to prep for this conference.

While I have signed up for pitches with an agent, I am even more excited for my pitch with an editor. I try to have a lot of self-awareness and I know even at draft 3, The Wayfarers isn’t quite ready for pitching. That’s why I am so, so looking forward to getting feedback. I’m still going to put my best effort into these pitches and landing a book deal, but I’m also going to be realistic. And now that I have this plan set of finishing up this last year of college, I’ll be able to spend my time after graduation putting all my focus on this series. I plan on hiring an editor once I’m settled, and then I’ll be querying this series. That’s the plan I’ve had stuck in my head for close to a year now, so I suppose that’s why I’m not too worried about being rejected at the conference. As someone who constantly feels short on time, this is the rare occurrence where I feel like I have a whole world of it. I just have to focus on getting through the rest of the school year.

This post ended up being so much longer than planned, so I appreciate you dearly if you’ve took the time to read it all. I actually really enjoyed getting to talk about my projects, so I hope to make this a monthly occurrence. Though, those updates will hopefully be more concise. That’s why I didn’t go into detail on my writing process for the Novella and Volume Two, I plan on writing separate posts for those later. (Expect mid-November.) I’ll have a newsletter sent out telling everyone on how the conference goes once I return on November 7, so if you haven’t subscribed, make sure to do that if you’re interested in my updates.

Wish me luck at this conference! I have to sit down and figure out my pitch because, believe it or not, I am terrible at planning in advance and have not done that yet. And it doesn’t help that pitches are basically one of the most important things. But hey, I’ve got my business cards, like a hundred drafts of my query letter, so I’m practically superman at this point.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great fall, and I’ll see you in the next one.