still haven't decided which novel premise I'm going with if I do actually commit to a novel
I want to do the story I started in 2017, but it's huge. it's been stewing in my head for almost seven years now and there's a lot to it. novels are intimidating as is, let alone a huge idea like this that I first formed when I was younger and prone to biting off way more than I could chew
but alternatively, going for another scifi and/or fantasy story is hard because I'd have to create the world and lore and stuff from scratch again.(1) the aforementioned downside to the 2017 idea is also one thing it has going for it: I've already done a huge chunk of the world-building for it
expand for the Secret Third Option™️
(1) the Secret Third Option™️ is, of course, going for a real-life setting, or one very close to it. happens on earth, modern-ish day, modern way life works and a shared history to real life. the benefit is I can just have a lot of world building be implied, where like, I wouldn't have to describe what the names of countries are or their histories. I could just make, say, WW2 a crucial event to the plot and I wouldn't have to elaborate from scratch as if the reader doesn't know what WW2 is. the downside to this is it's boring and a drag and I really don't want to do this lmfao. I'm into a lot of my stories for the escapism, be it where I can forget my real life problems or where I can pretend to have solutions to them (like just being a doll. dolls don't have to partake in society)
but this Secret Third Option™️ is possibly my best bet from a marketing standpoint since it's an easier on-ramp. there's less groundwork I have to lay, so less work for me, and at the same time there's less the reader has to learn to hop right in, making it more widely... accessible is the wrong word? idk, more widely inviting I suppose. fucking capitalism. I really wish marketing my novel wasn't something I had to worry about, but I mean, as I've said many times before and will say again, writing and drawing is the only way I make money. it's my one path forward in this life towards hopefully just having a happy, peaceful existence with my loved ones