Another Post

I got tagged in Jessica Reisman's post here (and you should all go read Jessica's work because she is fabulous), so I'm answering some questions:


What Am I Working On?

Two things:

One: a new Raksura novel set after The Siren Depths and the novellas, trying to get the Raksura out of the Reaches for a bit and exploring more of the Three Worlds. It's not very far along yet, I'm still in the first 20,000 words, working out the beginning.

Two: Something that may be a weird combo of coming of age/contemporary fantasy/secondary world fantasy/ and possibly portal fantasy, called The Dark Year. It's about 40,000 words along, close to halfway done, but the beginning needs to be reworked a bit.

Note that neither of these two has a publisher, so. There you go.


How Does My Work Differ From Others In Its Genre?

I don't think it differs by a huge amount. I like characters with a sense of humor even when bad things have happened to them. I like adventure and mystery plots in my fantasy. But when I teach writing I tell people that if you're writing genre a lot of times we're all working with the same concepts and sorts of ideas, so what really makes your writing different is you. Your life, your experience, your individual take on these similar ideas. Which is one of the reasons why it's really important for you to write what you want to write, what's important to you, the story that excites you, and not to chase trends and try to figure out what the market wants.


Why Do I Write What I Do?

Because I hate attention and I like being poor and unknown? Considering how things generally go for my career, I'm beginning to think every book idea I come up with is an elaborate attempt at self-sabotage.


How Does My Writing Process Work?

There was a good line in one of the new Poirots, where Ariadne Oliver is talking about a talk she has to give on writing, and how really all she has to say is that you come up with an idea and then force yourself to write it. That's pretty much my writing process.


This is my second post today, which I don't normally do, so don't miss this new books post or autographed books giveaway post.