After Advice

Hi guys,

Some of you may have seen my stuff in SYW - if not, then I'll give you a rundown. Basically my novel is fantasy, set in a world almost identical to ours, in 1940's London. The only difference is the main religion. The story revolves around this fantasy religion and the secrets it holds.

Now, I just had a thought; and in good time, seeing as I considered the MS finished, and started querying agents. Would it be a good idea to scrap the whole "fantasy parallel world", and make the events take place in THIS world?

It would require an edit/overhaul, replacing the names of towns and countries etc. Luckily I designed the story to run parallel with actual history, so it should fit pretty easily. The only problem I have is explaining the Religion. The idea I had here is to make my fantasy religion much smaller - into a heretical sect that existed in "secret" amongst the standard Christian churches of London.

The question is - would such an overhaul be worth it? It's completely changed my way of viewing the novel. Not only does it make the events truer, it also gives me an opportunity to do lots of research and make the whole thing authentically tied to actual historical events.

But then, on the flipside, it was never my intention for the story to be written this way. Is it bad to betray my original intentions, or good to think about this whole thing from a business viewpoint? No doubt it would be easier to sell a real-world novel than a fantasy one.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the thoughts. Yeah, the idea has been lingering for a while, but I only addressed it. I'll let myself cool off before I do anything drastic!

But yeah - preyer - your thoughts about being "lazy" were mine exactly. The thing is, there's no real reason for it to be in a fantasy world, other than the religion, which I've found my way around. Obviously it's fictional, so there will be events that didn't take place in real history, but I think the goal will be to find a balance of what I can and can't write in this new scenario.

I'll think about it a little more!

I could, like... make all the humans into elves...

I'm going to give it a quick go and see what happens. The more I think about it, the more work it's going to be. But it'll save me work in the future, as I'm writing a sequel now, and it's in the same world. If I change this one sooner rather than later, I'll still have some hair left in my head that hasn't been pulled out.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Thankyou! The religion revolves around the worship of Clockwork Angels, and the story is about characters with clockwork limbs, and the strange abilities they have. So it's pretty fantastical.

But I'll take your point about alienating normal readers and annoying the fantasy ones. Those were my thoughts exactly.

Phew, looks like i have a task ahead of me! But it's all for the good....

That's a lot of conflicting opinions, guys! Welcome to my head!

I started the novel wanting to do something different. I wanted it set in a world that was fantastical, much like Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, yet with no real fantasy elements. No elves or magic. What I DO have is people with clockwork limbs, and travel into the fourth spatial dimension. My "London" is called "Fallchester", my England is called "Albion". Eastern Europe is called Midgard. There's a whole alternate history dating back to the beginning of time. Involving meteor showers, holy alloys, and a whole load of other crap. This simply isn't earth as we know it.


HOWEVER, it would be possible, with strong editing, to make it our earth. Sure, it would be the same story, and if it sells, then it sells. But would the element of reality not make it easier to sell? Zornhau, your first point is the most compelling argument I have to make the change.

I understand the importance of story, but the story isn't in question here. The novel is polished to the point where I have to force myself to put down the rag. It's ready to go.

My issue here is akin to doing a "find/replace" on the MC's name. If he's called "Al' Qyzune", in some circumstances, it's better to change it to "John". It's almost entirely aesthetic. However, I can't help but think it would make the book "better" overall.

Gormenghast worked because it took place entirely within the confines of the castle and its grounds. The moment we went into the "outer world", we ended up with the very disappointing "Titus Alone". My novel takes place solely in this outer world, with no walls to shelter me.

Indeed, their ultimate goal is to have it abolished. They're fed up of being wound backwards.

Fed up enough to KILL