And by “composing” I mean making up songs and writing down the lyrics. I can’t even read music, let alone write it. I’ve been writing songs for Don Juan Triumphant which is the opera Erik is writing throughout Erik’s Tale. Most of this probably won’t end up in the book, but I feel compelled to write it anyway. Once Erik’s Tale is published (and it will be, one way or another) I’ll probably put up the songs as a bonus on my site.

When Erik starts writing Don Juan, he follows the traditional stories of Don Juan/Don Giovanni with Don Juan being an anti-hero and dying and unrepentant sinner. (a few versions tack on a happy ending.) This is a fantasy for Erik, to run around seducing beautiful women, dueling, and generally doing whatever the hell he wants. As Erik grows and changes, so does his vision of the story, so the opera becomes a tale of redemption through love instead. The other day I figured out how the opera ends, so now I’m writing part of a song to go with that. Do I know how to write an opera? Hell no. Will that stop me? Hell no. So I’m occasionally in danger of walking into walls as I hum a melody and try to figure out the next line of lyrics. It’s almost exactly the same as plotting. I wander around in a daze when I’m doing that too.

Even though I’m done with the first draft of Erik’s Tale, it’s still running around in my head. And I still love it.