Clarification of how I feel.
Every novel is so different, and genre to genre. I've written stories for years, just as a lark for friends, and at times they were fun diversions.
I'd say with the current WIP, it's not like a new car, it's more like that classic car of my dreams- not that I'm so into cars. Obviously, other readers may not see that, depending on tastes.
But I've come to the place now where in my mind, it's like when you read of another place and time in history so vividly written, you wish you could go there, and you visit the runes and imagine being there in that time.
Tolkien left shadows in his stories for depth, unanswered questions. For instance, I know what remnants of previous civilizations lays beneath the forest that my characters are currently walking on, and what the world looked like when that Isle first arose out of the sea.
When certain characters are forced to flee into caves, they encounter remnants of ancient civilizations that are so full of histories, that even I know there are a thousand unanswered mysteries for every one that comes to light. But that's what makes exploring a place so magical, that you know that there is likely an alley off the road you see to your left, which likely leads to some other alley worth exploring.
The novel may follow a certain path, but it feels so real to me now that there's that feeling that this novel is like that vacation, where you see what you've always wanted to see, but you know you want to go back there some day, because you touched all these others places to explore, if you'd only had the time.
