Buzzards is coming along at a respectable pace. Well, that’s not entirely true; it’s coming faster than anything I’ve written before. There are about 20 handwritten pages I have to type up before I can update the WIP word counter on My Projects page, which is one of my goals for this weekend.
I never know how much to share about my work – part of me wonders if someone will borrow the idea and part of me wonders if someone will say they’ve never heard of a more absurd idea. Both thoughts are my inner critic, and he lives in a house built on fear; therefore, I do my best to ignore his misguided attempts to help and go on about my work as usual. But right now I’m not ready to share much more than this:
Buzzards is a horror / dark fantasy novel centered around a female lead and a dying race of shapeshifters. My research didn’t yield anything like the characters I’ve created so I feel pretty good about the idea’s freshness. And that is one of my top five goals in writing: a fresh idea or fresh answer to a what-if question. I’m not really concerned with packing the plot in a neat little box just yet; however, if I had to, I’d say it’s transformation with two subplots: discovery and love. Really, I just want to get the book written, using my notes and tentative outline, and then I’ll address any plot issues during revision.
Next, Wolf has been in the works for over a year. Actually, more like three years, if I count how long the lead begged me to tell his story, but here I’m referring to when I first began writing the novel. It’s my graduate novel for Holly Lisle’s Think Sideways, so yeah, there have been some delays. Mostly because Buzzards beat up my muse and refused to wait in line; partly because I’m a recovering procrastinator.
I still make notes in my Wolf writing journal on a regular basis and make an entry from one of the story’s characters, usually the male lead, about once a week. The novel is a dark fantasy / fairy tale retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood stories and I haven’t found anything similar to date. But, with the influx of retellings, it’s possible someone will ask the same what-if question I did to discover Wolf. Of course I like to believe no one could tell this story the way I will since it was buried in my muse’s hole.
Lastly, I’m really, really stoked to start my next short story. There are two dukin’ it out for the top spot and my personal favorite is a zombie tale that my muse hit me with on Friday while driving through the little village I live in. Its working title is “Garbage Day” and it will be 5,000 words or less to fit within the publisher’s guidelines. Why is “Garbage Day” the favorite of my top two ideas? Because it’s a story I need to tell; it speaks of a truth I hold very close to my heart. And truth is another of my top five goals in writing.
Alrighty, I can’t lollygag around here much longer ’cause Buzzards is waitin’ on me.
What can’t you wait to do in the coming months?
Let me know by posting a comment below.
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