Earlier this week, I typed the two most satisfying words: THE END. Considering that this is the first long project I’ve drafted in three years, the satisfaction was double. It’s called Beyond the Dark Shore, a cosmic horror novella. And I almost didn’t finish it.

The idea came to me in 2020. Its first iteration was my short story “The Uytoroi,” which was published in Chlorophobia: An Eco-Horror Anthology. It told the story of ghoulish anemone-like creatures on a beach that take human slaves.

I always thought there was so much more to the story, and over the years, I’ve kept it in the back of my mind. In November, I decided it had percolated long enough. Beyond the Dark Shore differs from “The Uytoroi” in many ways, but I feel it has the same spirit.

I’ve dedicated the last four months of my life to this novella, though the actual writing took less than a month. Since I experimented with so many new techniques, I needed to put more thought into my characters and outline.

I took my time, trying to get everything as perfect as possible. In the process, I created some of my most well-developed characters as well as my best arcs. But I realized the planning process could drag on indefinitely, so I started writing.

On the first day, the words poured out of me. I thought I would be out of practice, but like riding a bicycle, it all came back to me. I ended up scrapping that day’s work, but it was for the best and made the story stronger.

In the week that followed, I wrote between 1,400 and 2,300 words a day. While there were parts that would require some heavy editing, I didn’t feel like I left too many developmental errors in my wake.

I was halfway through Beyond the Dark Shore when I made a sobering discovery. When “The Uytoroi” first came out, I remember one reviewer saying: “I don’t think I’ve ever read a story like that before.” This made me think I had something original in my hands. But I soon discovered how wrong I was.

At one point early on, one of my characters mentioned H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Colour Out of Space”—a classic story that I had never actually read. I thought I would check it out to make sure I referenced it correctly.

That’s when I discovered the problem.

I had thought Beyond the Dark Shore explored new territory. But after reading “The Colour Out of Space,” the unintentional similarities astounded me. Though the endings are vastly different, the meat of the story had too many parallels. This killed my momentum.

Mark Twain said that there are no new ideas in literature, but it still bothered me. The fact that Stephen King’s The Tommyknockers was also inspired by “The Colour Out of Space” did nothing to assuage my concerns.

I thought of all the months of planning I had put into it and reluctantly decided that I would shelve it. But in my experience, shelving a project is akin to abandoning it. Last year, I worked on Shadows of Er, a science fantasy novella, and “shelved” it in June, half-written. It’s been untouched ever since. Numerous other projects have shared its fate over the years.

Did I really want another half-written manuscript wasting away on my laptop? I remembered Robert Heinlein’s 2nd rule of writing: You must finish what you start. It wouldn’t kill me to keep writing, I reasoned. Even if it became nothing more than an exercise.

And so, I pushed through the despondency. I discovered that since I had read “The Colour Out of Space,” I was now able to deviate from it. The novella became fresher, and by the end, I fell in love with the story.

And now it’s finished, sitting at 28,193 words. I plan to wait my customary six weeks before beginning my edits. I have a couple SF story ideas that I’m eager to try in the meantime.

This novella came so close to not existing. I’m glad I persevered. Heinlein’s Rules have greatly improved my work ethic (I hope to write a post about that soon). In the meantime, I’m taking a few days off to recuperate and rewarding myself with a trip to the bookstore.

Tchau,

Zé