Sunday, January 5, 2014

Lit Corner: Embarking on the Next Novel


Photo of controversial non-celebs?
So topical! I feel more bloggy already.
Happy January, everybody! I hope your New Years had minimal embarrassments and car wrecks.

One thing I learned at the end of 2013 is that I’m very bad at traditional blogging. Divert massive amounts of brain juice to write fiction every day? Can do. But personal missives and polemics every 2-3 days? I clearly need to learn. Let’s take a crack at this.

Because it’s January, I’m embarking on another novel. For now the project title is We Don’t Always Drown. January has been kind to my compositions for the last three years and is fast becoming the ritual spot to start new books. I know this project is right because I wound up bailing on everything last night just to outline bits of it. It’s demanding a more robust plot skeleton than usual, possibly because I’ve had this idea for two years and plot vines kept growing out of it. There are so many matters to consider when Fantasy criminals compete for a corpse stuck in an ice cube.

Results from a brainstorming session
on genre blending.
We Don’t Always Drown is the direct sequel to The Last House in the Sky, which I haven’t published, and which makes the sequel composition seem slightly dubious. Yet I’ve invented a very big world and have at least five novels in store for this cast – in addition to thirteen more ideas that might require their own novellas and novels later. The first book was such a hit with test readers that I’m tempted to rush it out, but because this is the beginning of a long undertaking, I want to make sure the limb holds. There’s no sin equally contemptible as retconning all the important bits in after a book’s been out.

December went well. I managed to finish drafts of all four target stories, and submitted three in earnest. If you don’t know, both Strange Horizons and F&SF opened to digital submissions a short while ago. One straggling short story needs a little more time in the pressure cooker; I’ll probably straighten it out in the spring after this novel is drafted. Most importantly, that old Magical Girl story is out the door and making the rounds in what feels like a truly finished form. Six years of haunting, finally exorcised. It’s striking how draining what ultimately turns out to be so few words can be.

Awful author selfie?
Okay. Now it's a blog post.

My 2014 convention schedule is almost set. I have to make Boskone in February to see my old VP peeps, and am currently trying to figure out how to fit both ReaderCon and NASFiC into the same week this summer. My room is already booked for World Fantasy in D.C. Who will I see there?

To the general reader public: #NaNoReMo is coming back, but as you guessed, it won’t be in January. We had some folks request it be moved forward a bit, and so we’ve settled on March. Silly as I may be, February is Black History month, the only official month of anything that I actually respect and refuse to compete against. So you’ve got two months to pick out that classic book you’ve been putting off for two long. There ought to be a blog post about that soon. I love #NaNoReMo after last year’s intimate weeks plumbing Middlemarch, which is still challenging my view of how fiction operates.

So how was your December, everyone? And how’s January opening up?

17 comments:

  1. No, write all those novels before the first one is published. Plan ahead. Trust me on that one!
    March is a good month for NaNoReMo. (Right before the A to Z Challenge.) I might even have something to revise by then!

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    1. I'd be happy to have you for #NaNoReMo! What classics have been on your shelf for too long?

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  2. Goodness you are busy. And productive. Exciting times ahead for you, and for us. Thank you. Traditions? Make your own - so much more meaningful. And fun.

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    1. Got to use what time on earth I have! And I adore this cast. After test readers took so strongly to them, I'm enthusiastic that the world might actually want more mad-cap Fantasy found-families.

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  3. I love the idea of story vines. Sounds like you have a strong series shaping up this year. Whenever you are motivated is the best time to write. I'm in a revision frenzy, but hope to do more drafting on something new in February. Good luck with your stories out on submission.

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    1. Story vines sprout and easy and often in my long fiction. Got to prune them or else I'll never get pieces finished.

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  4. December ended with the wheels finally slipping back on track. I finished hosting an annual holiday story exchange and then actually sat down to write a piece for FridayFlash. Writing had been on hiatus for some time, and it felt good to crack the knuckles and sit down at the keyboard. January is opening up with much promise as I have finished one FridayFlash, am now working on another, and I have plans to revisit a novel that I never finished. I am glad to hear that things are still rolling along for you, John. You have always been dedicated to the task ahead. Good luck for the next year. May all your dreams be fulfilled.

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    1. I'm glad to see you back in the Friday Flash realm, Stephen. Are you feeling differently about the novel project?

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  5. Happy New Year, John! Here's hoping that your stories all find a proper home. I'm continually amazed at your creative flow!
    As for my December/January...funny how I stopped writing flashes to work on a novel - and now the past week I've written some flashes to avoid the novel.
    The classic on my shelf waiting to be read is Fathers and Sons by Turgenev. The copy I own was my grandmother's, and I've started it several times but never finished.

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    1. Of everyone, I certainly respect withdrawing from short stuff to focus on novels. They only get more draining with time, though they also grow increasingly rewarding.

      Turgenev is new to me. I look forward to seeing your blogs about it at #NaNoReMo!

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  6. Good luck with your submissions, John. Happy New Year!

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  7. I love your title, that's fantastic!! I might just have to join NaNoReMo too... Just need to figure out what to read :)

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  8. My December was pretty awesome - but I didn't do any writing at all. Not even blog posts, really. Mostly, I enjoyed hanging out with family.

    The break was really good for me, as I am very much looking forward to diving in to my next novel - and am taking a break from fantasy for a while and trying my hand at futuristic sci-fi/mystery. Should be interesting........ LOL

    Good luck on your writing projects!

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  9. I also have ideas for a sequel of a novel that has yet to be published. So don't feel alone. LOL Lots of ideas, in fact, enough for three or four books. And a novella, which I am presently working on.

    Looking forward to #NaNoReMo. Don't know what I'll pick yet.

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  10. Nice idea. I wish you much success.

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  11. That sounds great John, I wish I had ideas for sequels for some my stories :( I wish you every success in 2014 the story title for this next one sounds fascinating. I'm looking forward to NaNoReMo - i thoroughly enjoyed taking part last year, it forced me to read faster and I already have this year's classic picked out. Mary Shelly's Frankenstien - wish me luck and remind me when to start ^_^ Love reading your posts even if I don't always comment.

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  12. I love the title. Summer is usually the time I write the most since I'm a teacher with time off, but I also like the freshness and hopefulness of a new year for writing goals. I hope all is good for you on the writing front this year.

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