I have been writing!! It has been amazing!! With time being finite, however, there have been some choices to make, and sadly, blogging fell to the bottom of the list for a while. I am entering a writing competition and a short story contest, swapping manuscripts with a great writer and editor, reading more books on writing craft, attending a writing seminar with David Farland (I know, pretty awesome, right?), and taking a short story class from Mary Robinette Kowal (which is really awesome too!).
I made the decision to step back from my work-in-progress novel, THE DREAMLESS CITY, but don’t worry, I have a plan. I don’t think my outlining, writing, and editing skills were up to snuff for the story I want to tell. But I really am dying to tell this story. So I sat down, put on my big girl panties (the ones with the flowers on them), and devised a plan to get from HERE to THERE.
I need to educate myself more on outlining, what makes a good story, and how let the organization and organic processes of writing coexist. I also need to spend more time writing. Let’s be honest, everyone could always use more of this. And once I have a completed draft of a story, I need to improve my editing skills so I can polish it to a mirror shine.
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And in no particular order is a list of projects I am working on:
UNDER THE HALLOWED TREE – I tried out a new genre, modern urban fantasy, and actually managed to write a short story that fits in 3500 words. A teenage girl is abandoned by her date when a dime-sized owl shows up in here eye. (No, there aren’t any typos in that sentence.) She is picked up by a tattooed man on a motorcycle and starts having strange visions involving the murder of a woman she resembles. Under the hallowed tree an interwoven story of love and revenge is revealed. I am participating in Write Club, Fight Club, and you can read it when it goes up on Oct. 1st. Also, don’t forget to vote for me!
LIFE OF A FOUNDRY MOTH – I have been working through this novella (I really shouldn’t call it a short story when it is 15,000 words) with my local critique group. My critique partner has also been helping me with this. While I enjoy THE DREAMLESS CITY setting, I haven’t been happy with the way Edgar and Merrick are on the page, so some strong editing has been required.
AETHER TOWER 88 IS DOWN – This is another story set in THE DREAMLESS CITY, this time about a young girl and her team sent to fix an aether syphon before sundown. There are complications and zombies ensue. (No, that’s not a typo either.) All the scenes are plotted, and a rough draft of half the scenes is done. I’m hoping to keep this one under 8,000 words.
THE SHERIFF OF GOBLIN GULCH – I worked on this for NaNoWriMo a few years ago. It is weird west with goblins, and the world is so much fun for me. This inspiration came from Jim C. Hines and his Goblin Quest series. I realized I didn’t want goblins to always be the bad guys, so I wrote a story about it. The manuscript is a hot mess, and I would consider most of it pre-writing exercises. Working on my outlining skills, I dusted this off and had another go at it. Not there yet, but there’s some gold to be mined there.
ENTWHISTLES AND NATTERHORNS – This is another outline I completed with a fairytale vibe. It also has the likelihood of being middle grade instead of young adult or regular fantasy genre. A girl is tricked by fairies into visiting their world. They shrink her down and say the spell with wear off with the first rays of the sun. They don’t tell her they live in a part of the world where the sun never shines. Through courage and the power of friendship, the girl eventually overcomes her obstacles and finds a ray of sunshine to break the spell and send her home.
Tagged: contest, Dreamless City, editing, fairytale, outlining, Rivenloss, short story, steampunk, weird west, writers, writing Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
