I have realized I’ve talked a bit about the fact that I write, and that I have a lot of projects going—at some point of the process or another—but not much about the projects themselves.
While I admit, I can be something of a project and idea magpie, I also have no remorse in claiming to be such. I have heard of some authors who force themselves to focus only on one project at a time, and while there certainly is a lot of merit to that, I can’t let a good idea strike me and not jot down whatever comes into my head about it before it flits away. You never know when inspiration will strike, so it’s said. I have had problems in the past with focusing on a particular project if I’m not “feeling” it—rather, as I like to think of it, my head isn’t in the world right then. I’ve gotten much better at hunkering down and writing without that flashing spark of inspiration that glues me to the writing board, and have been working on excersises to get myself into a given world when I want, rather than when inspiration thinks is best (which tends to be at the worst possible time—when I can’t sit down and write).
Outside of that, if I have an idea strike me and can jot it down real quick, you bet I do. That isn’t to say that every idea gets used—even ones I partially develop sometimes fall by the wayside. There are ones I like, but just can’t get to work the way I want them to, or just can’t seem to get rolling for whatever reason. But, those ideas that can’t quite work on their own or in their own world either get moved to a back burner, where they can percolate and stew for a while until I can make them work, or they get reworked into something else. Almost nothing goes to waste if it’s good enough for me to take the time to write it down.
Which brings me to the most important part—what I’ve currently got in the works. I’ve got three tiers (in my head, more or less) of story categories—The Big Ones, being the furthest along in development and/or narrative; Secondary Works, being stories in some stage of development, but not much narrative and not as much worldbuilding as the first group, but that I would like to work on developing into eventual Big Ones; and Short Stories, being either connected or standalone works not projected to be larger. Of course those in the third category may well take on more of a life of their own than I anticipate and would then be moved into one of the other categories! These categories aren’t set in stone, and neither are the stories filling them.
Typically, I focus on working on The Big Ones or Short Stories, and dabble here and there in the Secondary Works. But, if inspiration for worldbuilding or a plotline strikes me for a Secondary Work over the others, I will divert some attention to the particular project in question. It is my goal to finish all of them, after all! So, this is by no means a fully comprehensive list, but merely the ones that are most in the forefront that I am focusing energy and thought and work into.
And so, with that bit of context, the works themselves.
The Big Ones:
Miomir — An epic medieval fantasy setting, currently with several plotlines for several novels and series. A world with scars, old and new, from magic and from war. Ages wrought and shaped by desperate alliances, tenuous friendships, and bonds of blood. The old has been forgotten and written over, scattered and lost to all corners of the world. And the new… the new must win a race they know too little about, if there is any hope of sealing what has long been broken.
Embrosi — A gunpowder fantasy setting, mixed with hints of industrialism and eldritchery, currently with three plotlines for as many novels set in a sequential series. A life can be upturned in so many ways—some for the worse, some for the better. And sometimes it is for a reason beyond any guessing. Her mother was a mediocre alchemist, and her father a talented cobbler, but her life is being pulled in a direction completely out of her hands and into waters much deeper than anyone truly knows. All she seeks to do, however, is cut the strings of her puppeteers.
tFTOI — A desert setting with fantasy elements, projected to be a standalone novel. The son of a simple herder has his life completely overturned, and now must journey to a distant city across a wide and unforgiving desert to find the answers to questions his mother left him. He knows little of the broader world he sets out into, and can only hope the Wind of Luck follows him on his path. Perhaps if it does, he can find the help he needs on his journey and how to handle his fate.
Secondary Works:
LTYW — A story with threads of gaslamp fantasy, projected to be a standalone novel. Originally inspired through writing something else, I liked it well enough to move elements into their own world, while working on preserving as much of the original writing as possible. Still in planning and early worldbuilding stages.
TFS — A story with threads of a newer subgenre, solarpunk, but in a fantasy setting rather than a science fiction one, projected to be a standalone novella or novel. This one has a good solid story foundation, and even a little bit of narrative, but very little in the way of worldbuilding. Might be moved to a back burner until a later date.
Short Stories:
Undertow — A standalone short story set in the Embrosi world, finished and close to publishable quality.
Wolf’s Eye — A standalone project initially to have a series of connected short stories with a heavy emphasis on world lore, but as I write in it, it is taking on a much larger life of its own, even still within the first plotline. May become a Secondary Work in the form of novellas, or even short novels.