I've been so crazy busy doing Things That Are Not Writing lately that I haven't had time to stop and take stock of what I'm writing, where it is, and why it's stalled.
So, a brief update.
Laina - YA urban fantasy
Laina has stalled and been stalled for weeks. I can't seem to bring myself to keep writing her - part of me keeps saying that I'm not writing enough action and that people will get bored with my detailed prose.
I like detailed prose - all the little hints, tips, and tricks that point in the direction of the ending. The Chekov's Gun on the wall, the foreshadowing, the importance of prophecy...
Some writers - writers I really admire - manage to pluck half a dozen words out that describe the scene perfectly, and then get on with the action.
I feel like I need half a page to set the scene. At least.
And I think writing Laina as a character scares me: it's been so long since I was a teenager, and I don't think I was 'normal' by common standards of teenager-ism. Am I getting her right? Is she 'young' enough? What am I missing in her depiction?
Elly and Carlos - "The Shadowkin" - Supernatural Action/Adventure Romance
Elly and Carlos have sort of become the first chapter in a five part epic which ends in the attempted assassination of the US president after the assassination of an international leader by a member of the US military. (He's got a secondary agenda, of course.)
I'm just not sure how to write their conflict as being...conflicty. And exactly who the bad guys are and their motives (the Big Bad, as we would say) is a bit blurry. I have the Petty Evil down pat (Henchmen) but the Big Bad is tricksy: they have to believe that what they're doing is the right option, and for the time that I'm writing them, I have to believe that too, or else the audience is never going to accept that.
And, reading my current string of paranormal romance novels (Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series), I have this sneaking suspicion that I can't write the kind of instant-attraction romances that actually sell.
You know the ones I mean.
Eyes meet across a crowded room, lovingly detailed descriptions of how hot the characters are, the sexual tension rising like a kettle on the boil, and the intricate and sensuous blow-by-blow sex scenes. Okay, so maybe I can write the blow-by-blow sex, but the rest of it feels like it eludes me.
My female characters are not the breathless sort as a general rule, and Elly is not the kind to get swept off her feet by a dark handsome stranger whose eyes she meets across a crowded room.
On the other hand, he does save her life within minutes of meeting her and she does fluster a little under his attraction. She just tells herself not to stay calm and be friendly.
Mostly, I'm worried about making it OTT, and worried about underselling the attraction.
I may worry too much.
Sparrow - "The CLockwork Dragon" - YA steampunk fantasy
I started the Chinese Steampunk the other day. I'm beginning to think that this story might end up taking the form of a Hero's journey with a genderswapped narrative theme: where the Hero is actually female. Start off an artisan's daughter, end up hope of the Empire!
To be honest, the land is not explicitly Chinese, but a lot of the concepts and societal structures, cities, mythology, and backgrounds are going to be taken from Chinese and East Asian culture. Including ninjas. Because everything is better with ninjas!
various fanfics
And then there's the fanfic, which I've been neglecting. Until the due dates turned up in the last week and I realised I had a bunch of things to get in and hadn't touched any of them.
1. 1000 words, female-centric - DONE.In short: threat level - BEARS.
2. 1000 words, genfic - due 10th May OMG BEARS
3. 10,000 words, reversebang - due 13th May OMG BEARS
4. 10,000 words, big bang - due 17th June OMG BEARS
