Projects and Process
What are you working on?
This is a question that I want to (and often do) ask fellow content creators. Tonight I want to share a few projects I’m working on and talk a bit about my creative process for fiction.
Current Projects
I’ve been very focused on fiction writing for the past few months. To that end, I’ve been writing short stories, a novel and a few flash fiction items. Here’s a list of what I’m doing and what’s next for these stories.
Novel Project: I am still in edit mode of the 1st draft of my first novel. I’m almost half way through it but also taking moments to write some short stories. To keep focused on what I wrote and avoid rewriting while editing - I printed the novel and have been working through the 350+ pages. Right now the book is a novel-in-verse but I’m considering moving to a prose novel. Not sure where we’ll end up here. I’m hoping my second draft is completed by the end of the year and submissions start in January. Stay tuned!
Where the Wisp starts. The bottom of a broken rope.
The Wisp: A short story-in-verse that I wrote after completing the first draft of my novel is in submission mode right now. This story is about the struggle between what is comfortable, known and killing you versus unfamiliar, unknown and starting with nothing. I received a very kind rejection last Friday for this work from the first place I submitted. The editor shared another publication he thought the work would be great for so I’m going to try there. Using the rejection, I’m reviewing the start of the story to ensure it grips the reader faster. I do think there is some room for improvement there. Stay tuned!
Side note about this story: This tale has been cooking in my head for years. I am very excited to have it written and am hopeful that I can share it with you all soon!
What is interesting to see at night?
Seas for a Day: A flash fiction work that I did inspired by a weekly writing prompt. This work is about siblings understanding each other. Two weeks ago I submitted the work and it was rejected. I’ve been thinking about submitting elsewhere but as I’ve been thinking about the story - I think this could be a good picture book for adults. With that said, I’ve also been thinking about exploring self-publishing and know an excellent artist who is interested in a collaboration. We’ll see where this goes but I won’t be returning to it until after the second draft of my novel so probably a holiday project.
Now What?: Is a flash fiction work about life after loss. This submission also rejected but I believe this work is a good one to share with the world and will be submitting again for publication. I’ve noticed in talking with people about the death of a loved one, many people have this phase where they try to do what they think the deceased would have wanted them to do. I wonder how much of that am I doing since the passing of my father. Deep thoughts aside, I think this story has legs and look forward to sharing it soon.
Untitled Short Story: Lately my mind has been very focused on the future of work and artificial intelligence. Not only what this technology can do but how it changes who we are and how we think about ourselves. This story is a science fiction tale about artificial intelligence taking over our lives. Not like Terminator, more like Secret Life of Pets. This story was inspired by a rejection letter I got from a publication that was so kindly worded, it made me really want to contribute to that publication. Doing research, I saw they needed sci-fi content so I’m writing to the market need. More to come as this story finishes in the next few weeks.
City of Duhr: I’ve talked a lot about this one. Check out this post to catch up. I see this as a project where I’m going to experiment a bit.
Process
Where do your ideas come from?
Mine normally come from life. Things I see. Things I’ve done. People I’ve met. But sometimes, I want to write about something that isn’t any of those.
I use visual storytelling tools like Story Cubes to build stories that I wouldn’t normally piece together. These tools were used to build the beginning of the City of Duhr story along with another visual aid called Shadow Myths. Here’s a sample draw that was used for Waiting. Take a read of the story and see if you can see where these elements match up.
Waiting
A clock, a fountain, accounting, crashing and a body.
So how can you use these tools? Here’s a quick video of how I use the story cubes. Excuse the shaky camera. I’m trying to hold the camera while rolling - never a good idea. Check out the end of this post for a poem that came from this roll.
NCTE19
Will I see you at NCTE?
If you are planning on attending, let me know in the comments.
The Monsters from the Valley
Dad tells the story
of his hunt
and the tribe from the valley.
They attacked him
they took his deer
they left us hungry.
Sitting in our cave
listening to Dad
I watch Mom
paint the tale on the walls.
Savage creatures,
monsters from the valley,
not like us
they are Them.
They
stole Dad’s hunt
and that’s why
we can’t eat today.
I’m hungry
and wish I had something
and I wonder if They are
monsters
or just hungry like me.
Special thanks to Michelle Heidenrich Barnes for hosting Poetry Friday this week. Please take a look at her blog Today’s Little Ditty. Congratulations Michelle on the release of your latest collection. Readers, pick up a copy at Amazon here.