Rhizomes.
I’ve been pondering it for a while, and it has a lot to do with rhizomes.
Just A Little Plant Biology
For those of you who don’t know, my “real life” job is in education: I’m a teacher. My particular corner of the playground is a unique one, in that I’m relied upon to teach an eclectic range of subjects. So, while my major is in Social Studies and my minor is in English, I also get to teach Math and Science and a couple of other courses, which I find pretty neat.
It’s in Science, though, that my students learn about plant structures called rhizomes. In simplest terms, rhizomes are the underground parts of some plant stems that grow, generally speaking, in a horizontal direction, instead of up and down like the rest of the stem.
If you’re a student of Greek and the -rhiz base tipped you off, you may have guessed that rhizomes have something to do with roots.
They do and they don’t – it’s kind of a misdirection; like roots, rhizomes are subterranean, but that’s about where the similarities end.
Roots are used by a plant to draw in nutrients and water from the soil, as well as to anchor the plant in the ground.
Rhizomes, on the other hand, have many purposes. In general, they have a lot to do with survival – they can function as the plant’s food storage containers, its extreme-weather safety plan, and also as insurance against the heavy-grazing tendencies of gluttonous, inconsiderate critters.
They also function (and I’m finally getting to my point) as a form of vegetative reproduction. The rhizome grows, creeping underneath the surface of the ground, before sprouting and producing what looks like a brand new, singular plant, complete with vertical stem and its own separate root system.
In some cases, this form of reproduction is extremely aggressive, producing hundreds of new stalks that can completely take over an area. If you’ve seen a bamboo grove before, you’ve seen the impressive result of the reproductive function of rhizomes.
Okay, so – I thought you were a writer?
Let’s get back to the book.
I mentioned a little while ago (ahem, *too* long a while ago) that a big Door to Altharia announcement was coming.
If you’ve been with me from the beginning of this trip, you’ll know that I fully intended for Door to Altharia to be a stand-alone novel. There would be room for sequels and prequels and all that wonderful, bedazzling, franchise-oriented stuff, but it was going to be stand-alone. I was quite adamant about it, if I remember right.
Well… that’s kinda not how things have gone.
So, here’s the long-awaited announcement:
Door to Altharia sent out a rhizome or two of its own and sprouted two more books!
That’s right. We’re talking trilogy – John Ronald Reuel style. 🙂
What does it all mean?
It means that Door to Altharia is only the beginning, literally.
As I’ve been writing and editing for the last month or so, it’s become increasingly obvious that Alec’s story is just too big to be a standalone novel. There is simply way too much content to prybar into one book, too much even for two books. So, a trilogy it is!
It also means that I am much closer to completing the first book than I thought! As soon as I move into the full edit phase, I’ll let you all know. I may also be on the hunt for some beta-readers, so keep your eyes peeled for that (if you’re not sure what a beta-reader is, don’t worry – I’ll explain when the time comes).
I wish you could know the excitement I have for this development. Writing a trilogy has always been an aspiration of mine, ever since J.R.R. Tolkien first introduced me to the story of Middle Earth when I was a child. That Alec’s story has demanded this treatment is extra-special – I imagine it’s never good to write a trilogy just for the sake of writing a trilogy.
So, here’s to completing Door to Altharia and discovering just what its rhizomes are sprouting! 😉
Thanks for reading,
Martyn
