My Novel Dreams
Over the past few years I have longed to write a fantasy novel saga, I have spent many hours so far writing notes, character profiles, histories of the world and information on different cultures and creatures. My story is in no way complete and in truth most of what I have written is basic storyline, this is why when I started on steemit I decided to post an original spin off story based in the future but still in the world I had created - I just wasn't ready yet.
Steemit's Impact
Since joining steemit (a month ago now) I have been obsessed, and over the first three weeks I spent so many hours and sleepless nights on here, I burnt out. For the past two weeks I have been fighting a terrible flu that I can't seem to get over, all I can think is I've pushed myself to hard and my body couldn't take it any longer this is why I hadn't posted in a week - that was until yesterday.
Since posting on steemit I have realised how brilliant this platform is going to be for writers, as I have never published anything like this before I was nervous about putting it out in the world for fear of rejection or criticism. This story has been such a huge part of my life, for a long time now and the thought of people not finding what I had put so much effort into as worthy was crippling.
Part 1 was the second post I ever submitted on steemit after my introduce yourself post, for the first time ever I had someone I didn't know and had no connection with comment on something I wrote, 
In that moment I realised, at least one person out there seems enjoy my story it blew my mind and I was ecstatic! Not only that but before I even finished writing the whole novel I was making money off individual chapters, as a writer I didn't think I would ever get paid for what I wrote - let alone paid, per-part as I went, with instant feedback from readers.
It has been beyond my wildest dreams, I was always worried about how I would publish these stories and I was worried about just putting them online for fear of straight up theft. Steemit has made the release of my story secure, I can prove what I wrote and when - I have no problem with people being inspired by my world characters etc. I just didn't want someone to just take my idea and say it was their own.
With steemit I feel secure, I get feedback and support as I write rather than having to wait until people read a whole finished product. Then as a massive extra bonus you can get paid as you go, a few of my story posts have made $10 sd if I were selling a hard copy book you might sell it for $30 before all costs are taken out - making $10sd per part is more insane than my wildest expectations.
The Story So Far
Here's an easy access list for all parts of the story released so far..
Part 1 Disturbance
Part 2 Survival
Part 3 Escape
Part 4 Shelter
Part 5 The Discussion
Part 6 The Long Watch
Part 7 The Kawahlin
The Issue
While sitting at my computer typing up part 7 of the story, I realised that the story I am writing will soon start to impact on the original story this one is based on. I have been thinking what to do about this, I don't want to stop writing this new story however it will soon start to detract from the mysteries you were meant to uncover in the original storyline.
The best option I believe, is to finish this small instalment of stories and then go back and either I start writing my original story or I start writing and releasing information on the characters and histories etc. This could go either way really, most of the work I have done is on backstory, basic information and overall storyline.
I don't want to fall into the trap of revealing things too early, I like to make readers think about what could happen and I don't like the idea of things being simple and obvious. I wouldn't enjoy reading a book written this way and I think most people that would enjoy my stories, prefer to have to use their own intellect to be able to intuit the direction the story could go rather than have it all spelled out for them.
What To Do Now
So what does all this really mean, well my immediate intentions are to get the story I have already been posting to a place where I feel I can pause the story without too much trouble. That means I probably have one to three more parts left to this story, as I haven't written anything before I post I am not sure exactly how many parts it will take to complete. But I already have an idea as to where to leave our travellers, I am just not sure exactly how they will get there yet or how many parts it will take to do it.
Once I am satisfied the story is at a place I feel comfortable leaving it, I will need to decide which direction is best to go in from here.
Option 1
I go back to my main story, I haven't written any of this story yet either just history and background character profiles etc. I had been planning on doing this soon anyway, but this move would make this story the main focus of my writing.
Option 2
I release editions of a resource book about the world I have created, it would have histories of the different races, cultures and civilisations but also creatures and religions. This is where most of my focus has been when writing my main story there is just so much information and planning that I have put into this story, that I have found it easier to compile the information to use as a reference as i'm writing.
You Can Help Decide
I would love some feedback from people if possible, what would you prefer to read?
Option 1 or Option 2?
