Expanding the Horizon of Elsewhere

If you’ve been following along the blog and newsletter over the last couple of months, then you know I am in the throes of finishing the Scarred World Saga. 

 

4 books set in the same world.

 

A challenge for a discovery writer like myself, who constantly wants to see what’s over the next hill and explore what else is out there. 

 

That’s not to say there hasn’t been plenty to see in the world of the Scarred, but I’ve always started to get the itch to stretch my wings and go off to see what lurks in the depths of other corners of Elsewhere.

 

But as I’m finishing this series, the longest I’ve ever done, I’m realizing that being in the same world hasn’t led to a dwindling of my creative spirit like I once feared, but rather leads to new opportunities.

 

Everything that ends leads to new beginnings.

I’m seeing that now with the final arc of book 4. As I close out characters and plots, I am seeing small frays in each that are begging for me to continue on, either in the world of Requiem and the Scarred, or in new places across Elsewhere altogether.

 

As one idea is completed, a dozen more pop up, meaning there’s always something else waiting right after the end is written.

 

Like a small character in a middle-of-nowhere mining town who has a hidden secret I just couldn’t bring to light in the main arc, or the story of a group of monsters that stalk the land and how they came to be. Even daydreaming, looking out the window, as I tried to tie up a loose end in the plot, led to a whole new world and series (more to come on that later).

 

It’s exciting and exhilarating, but daunting at the same time.

 

I worry that I’ll never have the opportunity to see all the new places popping up in my head and spend the time in them I so desperately want to spend in them. 

 

Yet still, the new places I find out there carry me on. Ever since finding my way back to the blank page those months ago, I have never wanted to turn my back on it again. 

 

Nor do I think I can. 

 

For the times in my life where I haven’t been writing and exploring, Elsewhere has been the most stressful of all.

 

I need that outlet. I need to keep seeing what’s out there. I need to keep going and find other fellow creatures like yourself who want to come with me.

 

So Casco and I will carry on in the depths of Elsewhere even as one hallway closes because we feel like there are many more out there.

 

Maybe that’s the real gift of finishing something.

 

Not reaching the end.

 

But discovering how many new paths were hidden beyond it.

 

And for the first time in a long while, I feel like I can see them.

 

Because the horizon is no longer around the corner.

 

It’s everywhere.

 

That’s all we’ve got for today.

Until next time,

 

Stay striding!

 

-Jeff