Long overdue update

[selenay]

Wow, where did the last month go?

How is it September? How is it nearly 30C AT THE END OF SEPTEMBER? The weather here is so messed up.

Mostly I've been catching up on stuff, working a ton, and being generally terrible at actually updating this or going out to do anything with local friends. Yay me?

But! I finished the first draft of my femslashex fic and I'm pretty happy with it. Must be a personal record for early finishing, I think. I credit pacemaker.press, because it made planning how to handle the work way easier than my usual procrastination. I like seeing little green boxes that mean I did what I was supposed to do :-)

And with that out of the way, yesterday I started writing a new book. Hooray!

I do love the early days of new bookness. This is something I've been planning and researching for months. It's probably got the most detailed outline I've ever done--not a single "and then cool shit happens" in sight--and I worked out characters, locations, backstory, world building, all that stuff.

Obviously I added a new minor character as soon as I started writing but OH WELL. I like her. Niamh is lovely and drives my spellchecker nuts.

It's an urban fantasy set in Devon (so not *very* urban, heh) and I am excite. The main character is already starting to have a voice, I'm excited about getting the other characters on the page, the setting is going to be fun, and I'm looking forward to discovering who else shows up that I wasn't expecting.

I'm planning to take a leaf out of Charlie Stross's book and try a new beta reader/early reader thing for it. More on that in a separate post :-)

I'm also writing in first person for the first time in...probably ten years or more. So that'll be an interesting experiment. The first day of writing went way better than expected yesterday (including the unanticipated new character) and I'm hoping that's a good sign.

I haven't forgotten about the Snow White book I wrote earlier in the year. I'm rewriting the ending for the billionth time. I plan to go over it with a fine tooth comb again after that and then I *will* send it around on query for a while. I promise. It was one of my goals when I started writing it.

And I'll be sending it out with the knowledge that if it doesn't get any bites (and it may not, because niche), I've got a new book in progress already. That feels like an important thing to have.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Hello!

It's an urban fantasy set in Devon (so not *very* urban, heh) and I am excite.

Aw, it sounds cool! (Just for being in Devon. Amazing, a place in England that is not London can have magic.) Good luck with it, and with the editing. Your plans all sound most positive and sensible.

[selenay]

I am excited to be writing about a Not!London part of England :-)

It's also a part of England I love, that I spent a lot of time in as a child, and has always felt rather magical. I'm stealing the town my grandmother lived in as the main base location, but there are so great places to borrow! So much history!

(If I write a second book, there's DARTMOOR. I mean. Who wouldn't believe terrible and wonderful creatures could inhabit it?)

Your plans all sound most positive and sensible.

That's what I try to be - sensible as well as positive :-)

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, which town are you using? (My Granny also lived in Devon; I lived in Somerset growing up.)

If I write a second book, there's DARTMOOR. I mean. Who wouldn't believe terrible and wonderful creatures could inhabit it?)

Indeed!

[selenay]

Oh, which town are you using?

Sidmouth! Pretty little town that never seems to change. Where was your Granny?

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, Sidmouth is a great little place for a fantasy story! I have been there several times - I remember in particular the waves being very fierce, and that, combined with the shingle and the cold sea, made us have a contest as to who could stand in the waves for the longest.

My Granny lived in north Devon, in Barnstaple; not quite so suitable for mythic purposes, although it does still have a visible castle mound that the town is centred around, I suppose. (And nearer to Exmoor than to Dartmoor, I think. All the sheep!)

[selenay]

I remember going to visit my grandmother just after a huge storm that flooded the shops and hotels along the seafront and cut off the end of the esplanade. It's got some fierce seas! They hold a Boxing Day swim and I remember my sister doing it when she was a kid. She was blue when she came out! It's got some great potential and a good base for what I'm planning :-)

I think most of Devon could be played with for some kind of fantasy story. Between the ocean, the moors, and all the layers of history, there's a lot to play with.

Heh, my memory of Dartmoor was all the ponies! I don't think we ever went to Exmoor. I associate sheep with holidays in Wales :-)

[umadoshi]

And I'll be sending it out with the knowledge that if it doesn't get any bites (and it may not, because niche), I've got a new book in progress already. That feels like an important thing to have.

It certainly sounds like a good thing! ^_^

[fyrdrakken]

Congrats on having a new book in progress with another one almost ready to be sending around! I've been looking into productivity lately (since I've been having such issues with getting things done and figuring out A) what I really want to be doing and B) where I'm losing time and how to stop doing it) and I'm delighted to hear that you've found something that seems to be helping to motivate you to make continual progress.