June 2024

June has been an interesting month. I put down a project that was 30k words strong, but research has begun on what will hopefully be my second novel (and heck is there a lot of research). Work continues on the Hero readthrough. None of this feels like “proper work”, and the whole time I’m getting intense “you should be writing” feelings. Except I am, because writing is also research and planning, but I feel like Sherlock between cases. It just doesn’t feel the same.

In case you missed it, Ice Hot is now available from Obverse Books! It’s an anthology of Doctor Who stories set in Paradise Towers, from the 1987 episode of the same name. Earlier this month I wrote a post about my story The Caretaker and went into some of the inspiration behind it. I may do similar “deep dive” posts for future short stories, as they’re fun to explore. (Also, did anyone watch the finale? Love to see a Classic Who villain return!)

Readthroughs are important; you study every line of your work and tell your future self why it sucks – I mean, why it isn’t working. Readthroughs are also really boring. I’m about three quarters of the way through the story, and by the time we get to act 3 it’s more bullet points than prose. Depending on the day, I’m either optimistic about filling in the gaps, or despairing that the villain’s path is still unclear. My only goal is to make draft 3 better than draft 2, and with these notes (currently a 48k document!) I’m confident in that at least.

Green crumbled. I’m not sure exactly when it happened. I’d been making good pace, putting down around 1000 words a day, but as I mentioned last month, the passion wasn’t there. I was just filling up the daily quota and moving on. One of the younger protagonists was taking over the story, when it should have been more focused on her aunt. The fantasy elements also weren’t ringing true – and that meant everything after the first section of the novel was potentially wrong at the core world building level. This isn’t the first time Green has needed a total re-vamp; I spent two years on an earlier draft and ignoring my gut feelings before concluding I’d made a wrong turn. This time I’m listening to that feeling… but that means I can’t carry on until the world is properly grounded. I’m left with my protagonists, an elevator pitch, a theme… but no world or plot. It sucks. I feel like I’ve wasted time working on something that was doomed to fail, but maybe it just needs some time and a re-think. Until then, I have another novel in the works…

Storm is a newer project, which I haven’t said much about. It feels more similar in style to Hero, which makes me feel a bit more confident in pursuing it. The research has been fun, and I’m finding myself a new-found interest in history. Ancient Rome isn’t strictly relevant to the story, but I’ve gone down countless Wikipedia wormholes and also discovered an awesome series of historical fiction: The Centurions by Damion Hunter. Seeing how complex and layered our history is can add spice to making your own worlds, and I highly recommend digging around to see what might inspire you. Look up the history of the Gregorian calendar, it’s fascinating, I promise. No, really. Yes, I have other hobbies.

In more optimistic writing news, I have another short story in the works! Early days yet, but I sent in a pitch, they said yes, and now I’m writing something comedic – which is my happy place. More details to come. Amidst all this planning and reading it’s nice to have a project that involves actual writing.

I finally got my hands on the physical edition of Baldur’s Gate (a Christmas present from the parents) and I’m having a blast playing introvert’s D&D. Being able to design and name your own game protagonist always makes you feel more invested in the action. I have a Drow Bard, if that means anything to you. She casts magic using a violin, which is pretty rad.

This post was intended to go up before the end of June, but my excuse is that it was my birthday! I now have a stack of Roman-themed books to read, and some exciting new tea to try out. We visited the museum, which just so happened to have a snake exhibition. (I love snakes. Sadly they weren’t alive snakes, but still very fun!)

Last year, there was an online trend of ladies asking their boyfriends, “how often do you think about the Roman Empire?” and the answer being surprisingly more often than “not much”. As the proud owner of a growing collection of books, I can safely answer that question as “multiple times a day”.

Thoughts?

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