It all began many years ago with a simple scene in my head. I wrote it down without imagining how far it would take me. After many transformations, that page gave rise to the universe of The Chronicles of Myoo. Even today, when I begin a new story, I often start with something just as small.
I have never been afraid of the blank page. Stories come to me naturally, sometimes through a scene, other times while thinking about a character or something that might happen to them. When an idea begins to take shape, I want to write it down and discover where it will lead.
I have never prepared a detailed outline before starting. I need to step into the story, follow the characters, and see what happens as I write. One scene can suggest another, a conversation can open up a possibility I had not considered, and a character can take on a larger role than I originally imagined. It is one of the things I enjoy most about writing, because it allows me to be surprised even within a world I know well.
That does not mean I have no idea where the story will lead. I carry the saga in my head and have already imagined how it will unfold many books beyond those I have written. I know what events and developments are still waiting to reach the page, but there is always room for new ideas between what I imagine and how I eventually tell it.
Sometimes I jot down an idea in the Notes app, where it may sit and develop before I return to it much later. Some ideas become novels, others short stories, and others flash fiction.
As I work, I sometimes realize that something should have happened elsewhere in the novel. Often, a small adjustment is enough; other times, that addition changes the connections between several parts of the book and leads me to revise what follows.
It even happens when I reach the end. I may have written the last page and still find myself thinking about those characters, until I think of an episode I want to tell or a passage that deserves more space.
That is why writing “The End” on a first draft does not mean the novel is finished: the story continues to change as I reread it.
With Myoo, something else happens too. A character who appears for only a few pages can leave me curious to know more about their life; a place can suggest something about its past, or an event can inspire a story set many Eras earlier. More than once, working on one book has given me the idea for another.
Not all these ideas become something to write right away. Some wait while I focus on the story in front of me. But I know they are there, and I enjoy returning to them, rethinking them, and discovering whether their time has come.
So when I begin a Chronicles of Myoo novel, I know part of the journey and am curious to discover the rest. I open the document and start writing.