It’s been slow. Darklight is just shy of 5k, after rewriting the opening scene 3 times. I also discovered a better way to bring out the creepy so things have changed a bit plot-wise and Ellya might have a brother who becomes very important later. I think. The muse and I are still working on that.
I had oral surgery one week ago to remove a wire from my jaw surgery 20 years ago (!) that my body decided to reject. I’d been feeling like utter crap, dizzy as hell, and a bit spacey, and that is why. So no writing occurred because I couldn’t fathom it. So I took a bit of a break, but spent most of my time either reading or thinking about writing, which was actually quite productive. So now I’m back at it, but slowly, because my muse is still a bit gun-shy. My quota is 100 words a day and I’m aiming low. I have the time, and pushing myself or pressuring myself isn’t gonna work this time. So going slow and building up to more.
I’ve approached Darklight very differently than I’ve approached other novels. I’ve never tried to write a straight-up horror novel, and I suspect this one will end up with psychological horrors as well. I can’t help it. It’s my inner psychologist working on me. But I am trying for more horror too, so we’ll see.
I’m also telling this story differently. First person present, a first for me. Also there will be some journal entries by Ellya, the main character, in this novel and they will take place in a different location than the main action (her relationship with her love interest I think will be told in the journal entries, at least for part of it). And finally, the chapters have names. They will all use the format “[something] and the [something].” And I’m letting my muse come up with them ahead of time and I will try to pull out what I think should go in that chapter based on the limited “plotting” (if you could call it that) I did. Totally random, totally muse-directed, and I think it’ll be good. This is thanks to Holly Lisle, who has a class (How to Think Sideways) which I took and graduated from where she demo’d a plotting technique. I sort of adapted it for my chapters.
So I’m living the muse for now, and it’s been enlightening.
I’ve also decided that once I get the comments back on Pirouette, I’ll make a ruling on whether or not I want to pursue getting an agent with it. And after that is decided, I’ve also decided to tackle Alpha Female again. Going with my goal of submitting something this year, I think AF is the logical choice as it needs a bit of work and then it might be ready for critique. We shall see.
On the back burner (can you tell I’ve been thinking a lot about this?) are Darkweaver, which was supposed to be my Nano novel for this year, and my Fae-war romance inspired by my grandparents that suddenly bopped me over the head about a week ago. Tentatively titled Pixie Queen, but that’s subject to change.
Ugh. Want to move forward. And I am, just slowly.
Weaver of Words 