I had this series I was working on, called The War for Earth. The first book was Pathfinder, though I knew I’d have to change that before (not to mention if) I published, because a space opera novel came out in 2011 with the same title. It was about a guy who discovers the hyperspace pathways back to Earth, which has been “lost” for half a millenium… and discovers that Earth is a dead world, and the remains of the human race are victims of the biggest con-job in known history. And he, along with a relatively few others, starts a war over it. The saga was going to be based on the history of Ireland’s struggle for independence from Britain, and the twisted and painful history of that relationship would have informed the story development across the trilogy.
I was halfway through the writing of the first draft, and I’d plotted the rest of the first book, when I lost my hard drive. All data was gone. I thought I had a backup from only a month before… but I didn’t. Due to a mistake I had made recently in backup maintenance, I had a two year old backup.
Shit.
Anyway, I got a new drive, and started trying to recreate Pathfinder. But I just can’t seem to make it happen. I’ve tried several times to get working on it, and my enthusiasm has just… shriveled up and died. It’s like I’m still grieving the draft I had.
So now I’m working on new idea, one I’d put on the back burner while working on the Earth saga. This one is about a mage who rediscovers an ancient magic and awakens it to save his nation… but in doing so begins a war that may tear his whole world apart.
It’s a stand-alone novel at present, but I have ideas to spin off into a series of it becomes warranted. It’s called (for now) Warden’s Call.
Wow. Just writing this up gave me an idea that could drastically alter the direction I was going to go for the ending. Thanks!
This looks great. Love the color scheme. Good luck on your writing journey. It’s fun, ain’t it? (Except when you lose a whole manuscript on a hard drive–I’ve taken to multiple back ups, and usually about once an hour or two when I’m working. It’s a PITA, but, as you know more than most, worth it).
Thanks for the kind word, John. Unfortunately teaching is keeping me from writing as often as I ought to; I’m working on it.
That stinks. I’ve never lost something that big, just college essays. I lost one an hour before it was to be handed in. And I’ve been anal about backing them up since then. But do come back to it. I like a good space opera.
I will. I’ve recently begun to get my enthusiasm for it back.