This month's shared topic is about current projects and thoughts on future books. At this point, I think my ideas list is longer than my own future, but goals are good. However...I have several unfinished manuscripts and I keep beginning others which often makes for frustration.
When I suggested this topic a year ago, I had no idea that this August Constantine's Legacy would be published. It is a story set at the beginning of the Carolingian dynasty in Europe. I know the next four stories and what needs to happen. More research on the era needs completion, but I know the character arcs, so these books just need the writing-editing part of the production; hard enough.I am about halfway through Angel's Tread, the fourth and final book in the Black Angel series. While I know where I want to take it, the story's trajectory has slowed and needs more thought. Plus unexpected characters and situations keep occurring.
Since Angel's Tread has frustrated me, I began another story I've been thinking about: Arcane Revenge. It is a scifi-mystery story set about two centuries from now where a successful shipping-lines owner is attacked, his face destroyed, and for seven years he works as part of a prison crew on a starship delivering mined minerals from an asteroid. Once freed he plays one person for his family, and another while planning the downfall of his nemesis. Needless to say, its development has a long way to go. If I get this done, I hope it will also expand into a series.
I have ideas for a second generation of the Magic Aegis series outlined, too.
I've also been working on two different romance series. One, Call to Duty, is set in Michigan during WWII where a woman working in the local sheriff's office becomes the de-facto county sheriff because all the men, including her husband, the sheriff, are now soldiers. The romance is carried out through letters while the wife solves a mystery.
The second romance series may never see publication, but is a contemporary set of romances in various Michigan settings. The characters and basic plots are written down, but bringing the stories to life remains.
So I have a lot planned and I love my story ideas, but have a long, long way to go for completion. I've also decided to shorten the length of my stories. With Arcane Revenge and the romance stories, I'm aiming at between 55-75K word stories rather than the 90K+ stories I usually write. Still, so much to do...
Please visit these authors blogs to see what they plan and are working on:
Skye Taylor
Dr. Bob Rich
Beverley Bateman
Connie Vines
Helena Fairfax
A.J. Maguire
Victoria Chatham
Judith Copek
Fiona McGier
Rhobin, this speaks to me: "At this point, I think my ideas list is longer than my own future." And you're a lot younger than I am...
ReplyDeleteBut then, life is too short for the seriousness it deserves.
Maybe too short for the seriousness it deserves but every moment, both good and bad, precious.
DeleteI can't wait to read Call To Duty. It sounds like my favorite kind of story, a little history, a romance and a mystery.
ReplyDeleteI'm also glad to know I'm not the only one with more ideas than I have years left to write.
Thank you! You've given me impetus to continue on that title.
Deletelike the others, I was tickled by that remark, longer than my own future. I do know exactly how that feels. anne stenhouse
ReplyDeleteWell, no one knows the length of their future.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like we are all in agreement with your 'longer than my own future' comment! I have loads of notes and ideas for stories I may never write, but those ideas means I'll never be short of something to write.
ReplyDeleteAnd more keep happening!
ReplyDeleteYou are really ambitious with all these series. I stand in awe. I like the idea of Michigan settings. We don't see too many novels set there. Good idea!
ReplyDeleteThe work begins when we attempt to get our ideas into novel or short story form.
I love Michigan -- some great places for stories. And you are right about putting the ideas together into a complete story!
DeleteRhobin, I love your long list of ideas, and I completely feel for you in the frustration I sense underlying your post. So many ideas, so much research to do, and so little time. But it's much better to feel like this than to be sitting in front of a blank page, with no ideas whatsoever. Very best of luck with all your writing projects, and thanks again for the great topic.
ReplyDeleteThank you for participating!
DeleteRhobin, so many stories queuing up in your brain and demanding to be written. Not enough time in the day to spill the stories on to paper. I understand your frustration. Can anyone recommend a dictation program that actually works?
ReplyDeleteNone that I know of, Connie!
DeleteEvery time I fear that I'm running low on ideas, I wake up with another dream full of insistent characters that want me to work on THEIR story NOW! That's how I end up like now, with many unfinished manuscripts in my laptop!
ReplyDeleteI prefer to think that I'll have time to write them all and then some, when (if?) my husband ever gets to retire. Then we'll find a small place where he can go fishing every day, and I'll sit home and write all day! Heaven!