Beyond - Back on Track (Journal #4)

Beyond The Castle On The Hill will be completed by March 2020 but why did it take me so long? ​I'm pretty certain that my experience as a writer isn't as just isolated situation and will sound familiar to many others.

First of all, a bit of history - The three memorable years that I spent at the High School of Music and Art, inspired me to write a story of the future of my school. I wanted to heavily reference the gothic styled building and the warm relationships a school like HSMA could promote. In April of 2015, I published the sci-fi romance novella Castle on the Hill: Secrets. ​Thanks to innovative gadgets, a warm love story and new ways to express ones artistic talents, it turned out to be a thrilling view of the school that's been in existence since 1936.

Fast forward to late 2016 - I had a great many ideas for the sequel to Castle on the Hill: Secrets. For example: Adding new twists to the evolving relationships of Phillip, Dora, Ethan and Grace and their new connections with the Castle. Also, what's a marauding group of teenagers who feel they are indestructible have to do with an ominous space station orbiting overhead?  After many variations, the working title became Beyond The Castle On The Hill. ​I began running advertisements for the upcoming book and even picked out potential book covers.

I got more than halfway through my first draft when suddenly I found myself obligated to catching up on other writing projects. I made the difficult decision to shelve Beyond for just a short while. A few months passed and I felt more comfortable with resuming my sci-fi sequel. Unfortunately, every time I sat down to get started, I experienced a severe case of writer's block. I had many ideas but they just weren't jibing with the existing material. The same thing happened every month or so that I attempted to return to this project.

A few weeks ago, I had an epiphany about how to combine those many new ideas with the story. Thankfully, I've worked pass my writer's block and I'm back on track with my goal to complete the sci-fi adventure Beyond The Castle On The Hill. I've finished the first draft and I'm pretty excited now that I'm one step closer to completing this saga.

Drawing by Picolo

One of the main characters, Dora, has gone through a quite a personality evolution as compared to book one, Castle on the Hill: Secrets. I'd like to say that most of these changes are due to the scientific experiments of her father, Dr. Zachery Stone or her flirty best friend, Grace but I won't. I will say that her change has something to do with the Castle on the Hill.
Watch out for the next journal entry. 
Check out the previous journal entries for more info on
Beyond the Castle on the Hill.

JOURNAL #1       JOURNAL #2      JOURNAL #3