More problems with the marble! but our host is prepared.
Mr. Whim himself actually started life as part of a novel I was writing.
And, eventually, I finished that novel. The problem was that, by the time I got there, I realized it was very, very similar to IT, which I really didn't like.
The basic idea was that Whim was an eldritch being of immense power and incredible naivety. He ran a strange circus filled with green fire, tentacles, halls of mirrors, cotton-candy monsters and all the other sorts of things you'd expect to find in the worst possible circus imaginable. Ultimately, he was undone by the children who survived him, grew up, and eventually came back looking for his circus.
It was fun. I saw the whole thing through to a conclusion. But once I stepped back from it, I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd written something that had already been written.
Then DAT started taking shape.
As the episodes progressed, the host character very naturally became Mr. Whim in my mind, or at least a representation of him, and eventually another idea started clawing its way into my head.
What if I didn't need to write the novel?
What if I didn't need twenty-three chapters explaining exactly what happened, where they came from, what terrible thing happened to them when they were nine years old, and precisely how all of it fits together?
What if I could just imply that there is a larger story?
A little connective tissue here. A strange detail there. Something that suggests there's a much bigger world behind the story you're actually listening to, without having to drag you through the whole thing.
And that's probably what I'm enjoying most about Whim now. I get to take all the things I liked about that old idea and leave the parts that felt too familiar behind.
This particular story has actually been finished for a couple of weeks now. After last week's little explosion, I decided I wanted to change the opening as well as the body but I simply haven't had the time this week.
So it is what it is.
I have a couple of stories for next week rattling around in my head, a couple that are already recorded, and one that's been sent off to my favorite sound guy around...which is going to be absolutely insane when I get it back.
I'm also working on three audiobooks with the daily grind, so we'll see what we see.
Anyway, I hope you're well.
I'll catch you soon.
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