Another month is ticking on, and I feel like I haven’t really accomplished much! Where does all the time go? In 4 months Billy is off to School, which I am looking forward to, because hopefully, it means I can get more stuff done, like writing, work, cleaning, baking, watching TV, relaxing! Yeah right!
The writing has been a bit slow this month, I haven’t had an opportunity to get the work done that I would like you. Mind you I have been up on Critters again, and it wasn’t anywhere near as painful as it was the first time. I think I learnt from it. I have also made a new friend, Cassie from the ‘Naki. She first read it through Critters, but we work together on the SpecFicNZ group, so we have been getting to know each other. She is a writer too, working on a Science Fiction story which sounds really interesting. I sometimes wish I could just move on with something interesting, but I also want to get this up to a publishable standard so that I can start writing another story while this one is out and about.
I also want to get some short stories done so that I can get those published. I have managed to finish the fairytale, it just doesn’t have anything magical in it, so will have to work with it, but at least I have something.
The other short story, the horror / science fiction is also a work in progress, I have reworked it, and will no doubt rework it again, it just needs that interesting factor.
I have been looking around at websites for writing courses. I have finished one, but I just want to get as much help as I can get. I want to be on top of my game and get the storywriting out, but I also want to make sure that I do it properly, all official and professional like. Working with Critters has been helping there, because it has been introducing me to other story forms, different styles of writing etc. It has made me more aware of what I want and don’t want in my own story style.
I also started a dark comedy story, but I am not sure where I want it to go. Its about a woman who had a serious accident and wakes up to find herself in hospital with her sister telling her that she is having an affair with her husband. I want to have the wife run off with all of the money, but I am not sure how to bring it about. Will have to sit on it for a wee bit longer… Watch this space!
Editing Chrystias has been rewarding, but it has also been the hardest thing I have ever had to do. It really needs to be “tightened up” which is a term thrown around a lot by authors. It means that the story is a good read, and not loose, or losing the interest of the reader. You could say it is like knitting. If your tension isn’t tight enough, you end up with a baggy jersey. If you story isn’t tight enough, you end up with a story nobody is interested in.
I am currently researching my next piece, a steampunk story based in 1850’s Nelson. I just have to work out how I am going to fit the steampunk aspect into the story, and also what story I am going to go with. Michelle suggested an inappropriate marriage, but I am leaning more towards a mystery of some kind. Michelle thought a modern crime with a Victoria twist. Could be a time machine story, now that would be interesting… Definitely having a steam cycle, that would be awesome, and the whole concept is around this girl riding on a steam motorcycle. Just need to work out the details.
Between that, the other Fantasy story I have the pipeline (Of Kings, Queens and Noblemen) and the vampyre story based at Waitangi, I think I will be relatively busy for a while. I hope so anyway!