Current Thoughts on Writing and Why I Chose to Write a Light Novel Serialized Series
I’m now writing a light novel series about a world based upon the rules of music, with many, many entries needed to get to the end of the story I want to tell. I want this series to resonate with readers, showing them a brand new world with adventures, bravery, and deeply pertinent themes.
I’m also in transition from using Microsoft Word for my novels to Google Docs, because I find the instant save and seamless transitions between devices far more enrapturing than Word’s clunkier interface. I had been using a Word, OneDrive, and final formatting setup, but I find it much easier to have it all seamless within Google Docs. It’s a transition, but it’s one I am fond of.
But why did I choose to write a light novel series, when those things aren’t so prevalent in countries outside of Japan and the east?
The answer is, I want to try something different. The only prominent light novel from a non-native author is No Game, No Life, which is a fair bit old at the time I write this blog post.
I’m not quite an otaku level fan of the medium (who has time for that these days), but I’ve always found anime stories fascinating and unique (perhaps not amongst themselves sometimes), when compared to western storytelling. I enjoy the medium, at least the standout stories.
That’s what I’m hoping to accomplish with the Orchestrylus Odyssey. I want it to be a light novel series on the same caliber as fantasy storytelling across all cultures.
Where I differ on the light novel side of things is the tropes and culture-specific jokes and archetypes. I want to write fantasy literature with the aesthetic of the east, giving my novels a unique flavor apart from western conventions.
Sword and sorcery fantasy is fine, but it’s been done to death now for countless years in and countless stories.
With novels like The Symphonist, I want to try a fresh approach to world-building and soft magic. The world-building will not be hard in this series, to leave a sense of mystical wonder with the reader. Same with the magic system. I want readers to imagine what rules there might be in this universe within their own imaginations why it works the way it does. I will explain alter chromas a fair bit more in future releases, but for now I want that sense of mystery to remain. Orchestrylus is a world made up of spheres surrounded by auroras that rain down petals and blossoms, a world where symphonic streams dot the landscapes and the people use them to get around with ease. There is a scientific flavor to the world, and even some modernity, but I want the readers to imagine why that might be. Keep that sense of wonder alive.
Imagination is a form of magic, after all.
My first novel had a hard magic system with some sense of mystery, but I set it on an alternate version of Earth. But as I grow older and consume more books, shows, and atmospheric music, I find the wonder behind worlds and not understanding everything to be charming and something to be desired. Awe must be there. Fascination and asking questions need to come through.
Another big reason I’m writing a light novel series is accessibility and the shortening attention spans of our youths. The shorter books allow the story time to digest and sink in, whereas if I were writing 500,000 word epics, that sense of immediacy in immersion would disappear. I have nothing against that form of storytelling, and love many authors who use it, but I think having a story serialized in volumes might be the way of the future.
Not that I won’t be using longer novels. My next novel, Lowella, will probably end up around 400 to 500 pages. But with the Orchestrylus Odyssey, I want the world-building and story beats to pace instead of overwhelm.
This isn’t an epic fantasy, it’s an odyssey that needs that room to breathe and open up the world in increments to tell the best possible story.
But the most important part of this is to have fun, which I think is the root of writing.
Fun is vital, excitement entrenched within the soul.
