Sunday, August 30, 2015

Writing in Slo-Mo

Photo by John Gordy .  licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
I feel like I've been writing in slow motion lately.  I'm very motivated to write, I just don't have a lot of time or energy to write.  Still, I am steadily making progress toward reaching the end of Hemlock Book Four.  I'm right at the doorstep of popping a major "bubble" for the reader which will reveal a lot about the underpinnings of the story.  It's pretty exciting stuff!

Another surprising thing has happened this week.  An idea for another book that's been percolating in my right brain for a while suddenly started generating left brain ideas for me this week.  I hastily took notes.  I think I've uncovered the fully formed skeleton of my next novel!  It's something completely different from Hemlock, although the theme isn't that far removed from it.  Notably, it would be in the urban fantasy genre rather than epic/high fantasy.  But take that for a grain of salt because it's not a genre following story at all, if that makes sense.  In other words, it was conceived in a complete absence of any genre consciousness, and it's only in retrospect that I might clumsily assign the urban fantasy "label" to it.

I've continued to be fascinated by virtual worlds and higher "planes" of thought and existence in these past months.  I'm currently reading "The Peripheral" by William Gibson.  It's phenomenal!  I've enjoyed everything Gibson has written, but this story in particular has really grabbed me.  I always feel lost in his books for the first hundred pages, at least.  In some of his books, I've never really felt synced with the story at all (although I have still enjoyed them from a distance--kind of like watching a beautiful, nude figure through frosted glass).  But I am fully engaged with the story in "The Peripheral".  I'm close to the ending.  I've resisted Googling some things about the book until I finish it.  I'm very curious about the scientific basis for some of the plot devices he uses in the book.

That's it for now.  I will try to double down on completing the Hemlock series as soon as possible.  I really will be an exciting milestone to reach.  I'm already contemplating physical books, which will also be an exciting step.