Last week, I typed the two most satisfying words: THE END. The project is a science fantasy novella entitled Gods of Our Gods. It’s based on an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for over a year now and I finally had to put it down on paper.

It’s the most fun I’ve had with a writing project in quite some time and much of that had to do with the genre. I took my penchant for the dark and the bizarre and combined it with my two favorite genres these days, science fiction and fantasy. It’s similar to New Weird, but not quite the same thing.

This all began because I was searching for a book that, as far as I could tell, didn’t exist. So, I decided I had to write it. Most of the setting was already established. It was based in a world I first created when I was 14 years old that blends Ancient Mesopotamian technology with an Aztec-inspired culture.

It became a science fiction tale that just so happens to be set in a Bronze Age society. The only “magic” involved fits more with Clarke’s Third Law than actual magic. From there, I threw in some apocalyptic horror, a smidgen of gore, and a healthy dose of surrealism.

Religion is one of my favorite topics in speculative fiction, especially when it goes too far. I had enormous fun researching obscure faiths and then creating my own bizarre religions. The novella asks the question, what defines a god? And I feel the title (Gods of Our Gods) fits the book as well as I could hope.

The first draft sits at 28,452 words (or a 104-page Word document). As is typical for me, I leave out a lot of details in my first draft, so the end result will probably be 2000-3000 words more. However, I’m waiting my customary 6 weeks before I start editing.

Gods of Our Gods had a slow start. It took 6 ½ weeks to outline, but only 3 weeks to write. I experimented with a new method of outlining called 9-Point Story Structure, which in the end, created the best character arcs I’ve ever written. Still, it took a while to learn how to do this right.

The other delay came from the worldbuilding. Some of the best advice I’ve gotten on setting is that worldbuilding should be in service of the story. Not the other way around. But since this world was so well developed before I started, it meant sifting through dozens of pages of notes, two-thirds of which I didn’t need.

This project has introduced me to my new favorite mishmash of genres. I call it “dark science fantasy.” I have three novel ideas (a standalone and a duology) that experiment with different versions of this genre and take place worlds apart, but still belong to my overarching mythos.

The process of sitting down every day and writing a chapter is both exhilarating and exhausting. I forgot how much I missed it. I plan to take a few months to edit this novella and write some short stories. After that, I hope to tackle one of the novels mentioned above.

Until next time,

Zé