I thought I’d make a short status update to get down my thoughts about where I’m at with current projects, and how I’m feeling about them.
Firstly, I recently finished the first draft of Reflectionist short story. I’ve got it sent to a few people, but I’m going to let it rest for a little while, and come back at it with new eyes for revision. My first thought in completion is that the central conflict comes too late in the story, and that the confrontation didn’t hold enough weight. We’ll see.
My novella about a bounty hunting single mother has stalled a little. I’m at least a third of the way through, and I know where I want to finish, but getting there is requiring some finesse.
I started the novel I’ve been planning intermittently for months now. I’ve been trying to get a bottle handle on the characters/tone so I can write a decent outline, and I decided to start writing the opening scene, since it introduces and showcases the two primary protagonists immediately. I’m happy with how they are developing into more complex characters. One of them has an interesting mix of naive optimism and a commanding presence that makes me excited to tell her story.
I’ve also written the start to a difficult short story starring a cursed immortal with a very specific death wish. It’s tricky, because the protagonist has an least hundreds of years worth of guile, and has perfected the art of subtle manipulation, which requires a lot of thought to get right.
On top of all that, I’ve been writing at least one bit of microfiction a week, to keep myself always thinking. It’s fascinating how much story you can fit in fifty words, or how many words you can cut from a sentence to say the same thing. Check those attempts out by looking for the Microfiction category on my blog.
Lastly, here are some vagues ideas I’ve had floating around recently that may or may not get turned into something more:
- Short story about a sentient octopus pulling off a deadly heist
- Fantasy buddy cop novel – tongue in cheek homage to the buddy cop formula with some fantasy tropes thrown in
- A story of unknown length about a person who is lost in a nexus of dimensions and must use the different dimensions to survive, although each holds their own dangers (I got this idea from someone on reddit who said they wanted to read this novel – maybe some day they’ll be able to)
Any of these novels, novellas, short stories or ideas may not make it to a finished product, but sometimes that’s part of the fun, trying out different things to see what works. One thing I’m conscious I need to work harder on currently is building a stronger emotional core into my stories. A cool idea is all well and good, but without a compelling character journey, cool ideas may as well stay that way, at least for my money. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do that better in the future.
That’s all for now, happy reading!
Writings of a Doomscribe 