I love the word plotting, it sounds like I'm up to something. I guess, as a writer, I am.
Working on my third book. Wow, it seems so weird to say that. My third book. I've got Dark Ember out for query, just waiting to get a couple of replies before I send out more. Guardian is just sitting on the hard drive, for now. Maybe I'll do something with it on my own, as I don't want something I labored over for 7 years to go to waste.
But right now is one of my favorite parts of writing, the part that soothes that ADD/OCD tendency. I'm worldbuilding and plotting.
I'm not a super detailed outliner, not really. I tend to do a skeleton, then a basic outline and watch as my characters fuck off and do as they please. I distinctly recall writing a scene in Dark Ember that was supposed to be ONE SCENE and it turned into 4 chapters. Now, granted, its 4 bad ass chapters and I love them, but at one point I typed the words "When Swift looked up, she had lost sight of her human companions." and I said "What, where did they go?"
I've learned over the last decade to steer into those skids. I think one reason writing Guardian took so damn long was me trying to force the story into the boxes I had created. When I finally learned to let go, to let my characters steer the story, everything flowed so much better.
I got really good at that with Dark Ember. So good, in fact, that when a new character popped in and CHANGED THE ENTIRE DAMN STORY, I was able to adjust. The result was, honestly, pretty damn cool.
Right now, I've got a paranormal romance percolating. I have some basics like a cast and a tag line "In a world won by demons, nothing angelic will ever be safe". I'm toying with how much my world has changed in a post-war, and deciding on how my main female character will react to her life changing.
I'm playing with romance tropes, trying to find which ones I want to use and which I want to spin. I've always liked romances, especially romances with a really good plot. Like Sarah J Maas, Nora Roberts stand-alones, and more recently, A Discovery of Witches. Why have I resisted writing something like this for so long? Romance moves me, as I'm sure it moves a lot of people.
Once I'm done with this one, though, it'll be into Epic Fantasy I run. I want to do my True Blood x Versallies with a princess turned general and prince turned spy who are married but haven't seen one another in a decade and now must save the kingdom. Oh and magic, lots of magic.
I'm also working on another couple of shorts, including a Hansel & Gretel twist and a little Fae kidnapping a human....
Oh and the next episode of A Dark Attachment goes up next Monday.
Do I like being busy? Yes.
Also, still reading like a maniac. Spent another weekend at Half-Price Books getting the rest of the All Soul's Trilogy, including the companion novel I didn't know existed. OH YEAH.
January has been a win so far, lets keep the momentum going!
-C.A.
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