Hey guys, long time no see.
I just wanted to reach out with a quick post since I’ve been a bit too radio silent.
I’m still working on many projects and while none of them are finished, I’d like to give a brief update to keep you informed and hold myself accountable. Below, I’ve broken the projects into headlines in case you’d like to skim.
The Gathering of Misfits Presents: The Muscle
This book follows Garnet, a secretary of the Narcopolis Trash and Sanitation Department, as she must do whatever it takes to save her sister from a wicked crime Don. Even if it means breaking convicts out of an island prison.
Wrestling with the morality of her charge, she squares off with horrors and demons, not just within that leaves the question. Can she save her sister? And will she survive long enough to see the sunrise?
This story is in its seventh or eighth revision. I need to polish two scenes and two additional plot threads before reaching out for beta readers through the Write Practice forums. It should hopefully only be about two weeks until that starts.
This story is my closest to publishing and my current hopes are a release for next year. It really upsets me that I can’t publish this year as I’ve worked so hard on so many things and everything has fizzled out.
Addressing my absence
Part of the reason I’ve been so quiet is I’ve been hard at work, and another is I’m afraid I can’t post anything positive. Many of my books have hit a snag in one way or another, (but one,) and it doesn’t make me feel like a good author that I’m not so prolific as my peers.
However, I made large gains in the past two weeks and while I’m exhausted; it is a massive positive.
To explain, this past week I took a vacation from my day job to crunch thirty plus chapters in four days. I had self-imposed deadline to talk with an editor, and while I didn’t need to have anything by then, I wanted to have everything the best it could be so I could bring my problems up as they happened. And it turned out great!
So, this story is going better, but I have some work ahead.
How soon is it coming?
My current timeline maps out three to six months of beta reading feedback and a potential self/line edit to follow. Afterwards comes all the nitty-gritty of covers, formatting, and advance reader copies.
It’s coming together, and I’m feeling more hopeful, but there’s no launch date yet.
The Land of Magic Comics
For those who don’t know, I’ve paired up with an artist to create a comic book for a middle grade fantasy book, Lafonda and Leo Heroes of the Land
Currently, the comic is 10 out of 22 pages deep and going strong. I’m always blown away by how good they come out and can’t wait to release it. I had hoped to complete it by February, but its release is sadly looking delayed. Although, I believe it will be much worth the wait.
The comic retells the events of Lafonda and Leo’s first chapter in color and always gets me excited just thinking about it. Hopefully, this will draw many people into their world. 😊
The Hollow Death of Belladonna Bates
If you recall, I lamented over this story in my last post in June. I will not do it again here, but talk about the path forward.
For context, this story follows Psyche Bates, an undead assassin brought back to life and her mission leave this life behind as she relearns her trade, gathers allies, and takes a stand for a deterrent, an ice phoenix, so she is never hunted again.
At least, that’s the story currently.
You see, after three years of slogging and falling in and out of love with the story, I’m exploring other avenues of telling this one.
The problems stem from the current draft’s length and ensuring the story is palatable.
So, I believe its path forward could be to take it in parts by making each chunk a complete, succinct, and satisfying book with the protagonist relearning and progressing towards her goals.
What that looks like—I’m not sure yet…
That could mean abandoning the work I’ve combed over for so long and starting fresh. The pros would mean I can explain more of the crime syndicate’s origins, rules, and goals, as well as flesh out my villains. Its cons are the last three years’ worth of work are only character development and “organ donors” for future projects.
Alternatively, I can adapt the existing manuscript.
Forgive me if this is too much of a peek behind the curtain, and feel free to skip ahead if you rather not know how the sausage is made. It’s a deep hole.
Down the Rabbit Hole of the Option B
Still with me? Good.
You see, the existing bones have an arc. It’s there. It’s muddled in the middle with an alternate character progressing into the story’s conflict, but there’s a natural beginning, suspense, and resolution.
So, what if I paused at each big turning point, but carried an episodic plot between them? Think of it like a TV series. The characters have a big picture goal, but a neat concise problem they need solved right away in each episode.
That’s my idea with the current manuscript. What if each major event follows as its own book?
Granted, this may mean more work in some ways than starting fresh, but I despise the thought of throwing out some scenes. I’ve worked hard and I love these characters.
Pros
The pros come in that I keep my established vision of the story but expand it as a series. The characters gain more time to grow with the audience, and I potentially save some of my work.
It breeds room for more imagination and coloring within the lines, and crossing them where I please with rails to rein me in if I’m lost.
Cons
The cons? I need to plan. Like a lot. Adapting the existing plot means changes to what’s established and I must trick my brain into silencing the old canon.
For instance, adapting this way changes the timing. Whereas previously characters may have raced against the clock, they need more relaxed deadlines to allow needed rest for character development between action and internal consistency.
Another con is the workload. I would not only need the single story’s thread in my head progressed between installments, but the series entries need their own narratives to follow. Granted, I could be over-exaggerating this point. Most would follow what I have written with more downtime and tension, but I definitely would need to brainstorm each book and its course separately.
The more I talk about this other avenue, the more it feels overwhelming. So, this is all speculation and brainstorming currently. I haven’t decided where I’m taking this one and wanted to talk about it.
Concluding remarks on Psyche’s story
Needless to say, I’m not giving up on this one. I’m too stubborn for my own good.
Sadly, I have made little progress on this project since my last post after addressing some health issues. The Gathering of Misfits manuscript also took precedent, as I had booked appointments to improve it.
Thankfully, I found some help. I plan to speak with someone for story direction as I don’t want to dive into another full rewrite, but love the characters, the opening of the story, and its romance subplots.
Love, Eville, and Superheroes
This story has garnered a bit of dust, but there’s something there. Admittedly, I wrote this one for a friend and he has been scarce in the writing world until recent months.
My concern is I feel the character isn’t quite right yet. It’s hard to describe what I mean.
The story follows a boy and a girl who fall in love, but their parents hate each other, and not only that, but their parents also have superpowers.
The problem is I feel the conflict with Jake, the son of superhero legend, doesn’t strike me as interesting as his shy, super-villainess girlfriend working on finding her place in the world while her parent’s marriage falls apart.
Anyway, the plot is there and ready to go—the only thing waiting is time.
Sometimes when I can’t work on what’s next, I return to stories like this as comfort writing. The same goes for my next story in this update.
The Thin Blue Line
I believe I mentioned this one before, but I began writing a paranormal crime drama between other stories.
The story, currently dubbed The Thin Blue Line, follows a skeptic, grieving police officer as something monstrous murders his sheriff that he can’t explain. Allying with a park ranger, Allyson Gibbous, he’s in over his head confronting trouble in supernatural proportions.
Together, they must find the killer, hunt them down, and face the truth if they ever want to end its rampage.
As of right now, I’m writing this for fun between projects, but if it gets serious, who knows?
What’s next?
I have other smaller works that I’ve set aside for now, but I need to refocus my priorities. I wanted to publish something this year, and life got in the way. Next year I want it to go better.
My plans for this year’s remainder are to as follows:
- Prepare The Gathering of Misfits for publishing with Beta Readers.
- Continue the work on the comic.
- Revisit a plan of attack for The Hollow Death of Belladonna Bates.
If anyone on The Write Practice forums would like to read some of these early drafts, that would be much appreciated. I don’t know how regularly I will post again, but I wish to focus all my efforts on publishing.
Until next time,
Keep Writing!
Antonio