Let’s review, shall we?
Because as much as I’d like to just play, as I suggested last time, I do quite like to take stock of things first.
I mentioned a few posts back that I have 10-12 projects on the go at any given time.
I was referring, then, to writing projects — because if I were to add in weaving, crochet, spinning and bookbinding projects as well we’d be here all day.
I think it’s safe to say my creative brain can be a bit of a chaotic place. So, on occasion, I will try to work out some kind of order. With my fabric/fibre projects that tends to mean I’ll go through my scraps box and crochet some dishcloths, or weave a multi-colour bathroom rug.
In terms of my writing work… I don’t really know what it means. I know that in the very last post I wrote, I gave myself permission to play, and I want to do that. I’ve got… maybe a month? Until I get my line edits back, and I can’t draft a perfect, flawless novel in that time, but maybe I can savour the freedom to play with some of the projects I’ve been working with on and off for the past couple of years.
But if I just… play, without any plan or vague goal at all, I’m a little bit worried I’ll end up not doing much of anything at all.
So this blog post is a bit of an inventory of sorts, to help me figure out what vague goal I might decide to aim for.
Jess’s Writing Inventory, 2023
There are 9 projects currently sitting in my files. I have a couple more than that as well, but they’re on hold for various reasons I c.b.a to go into here. So, for our purposes, there are 9 projects I could choose to work on. Well, 8, because Project 9 is the one I’m waiting on line edits for. No point playing with that, at this stage.
Let me introduce each one, and give a brief rundown of stats to go with it:
Project 1 — at number one mostly because I have more words in this draft than I do for any of the others. Just over 60,000, in fact. It’s a YA fantasy novel with a morally grey character at its core. I think the reason I haven’t just buckled down with it is because I’m worried it’s a bit dark for the Current World We All Live In. Mind you, I thought no one would publish All Hell, so what do I know?
Project 2 — This book is entirely written… in my head. It’s a YA horror (think, Stephen King for teens. Not that I think I’m as good as S.K., but it’s definitely a creature feature), set in a creepy countryside-in-winter setting and it’s about a group of cousins fighting for their goddamn lives against something they barely believe in, let alone understand. I’m concerned my plan to do something unusual with the structure might be blocking me from actually getting it on the page. 20,000 words, I reckon, but mostly in note form.
Project 3 — 33,000 words written, more in notes. This isn’t YA (I suspect it could be/should be, though, so I might need to re-jig that a bit); it’s an adult urban fantasy involving a Charmed-inspired cult, alchemy and tattoos. If I keep it for the age group it’s currently sitting in I might have to actually write a sex scene and only God knows if I can pull that off.
Project 4 — Somewhere shy of 30,000 words, but I do know how it ends. Another adult novel, although at this early stage, I could tweak it to YA except I saw a YA come out recently with too many similar themes, which is exactly what’s stopped me with this one. Think, Medium x Misfits. I think I probably have to read the other book first, to reassure myself they’ve got different enough DNA, otherwise there’s no point carrying on with this.
Project 5 — I have approximately 0 words of this one written, but I fucking love the title I’ve given it. It’s definitely YA, and because of its mythological themes, it has some shades of All Hell — which is probably why I’m a bit worried about it. It’s a love letter to friendship, it’s a mythical retelling (are they out of fashion, yet?) aaaaaaand… this one would be a good candidate for some of my dictation-and-iNotes magic, probably. Maybe that’s the first vague plan I’ll make, to dictate some of the core scenes of this one.
Project 6 — Cyberpunk noir novella. 35,000 words written, of a likely 50-60,000. At this stage what it really needs is a full rewrite to make a 2nd draft, which is a) not in the spirit of this and b) not in my agent’s wheelhouse, I don’t think. I’m saving this one for when I’m famous enough to be able to write what the hell I like and bring my readers with me anyway, but I had so much fun writing it.
Project 7 — A short story collection I’m working on. I have a few I’m happy with, a few more that need some real work, and a few ideas to add to it. So that might happen. It’s currently about 30,000 words of short stories.
Project 8 — This one is Just For Fun, a bit like the cyberpunk, but also absolutely nothing like that at all. Imagine if someone wrote Sims Medieval fan-fic. It would be like that, except with dragons, queer love and a deeply reluctant queen. What I’m basically doing with this one is fictionalising every interesting titbit of history I come across, so again, this will either never see the light of day or I’ll publish it in an alternate timeline when I’m super wealthy and successful (lol, it will have to be an alternate timeline for that, I reckon). This is the world I daydream about when I have a migraine, which should give you some idea of what the writing’s like [insert upside-down smile emoji here].
One of my friends says I have so many ideas, and she finds it impressive. Now, I do have a tonne of ideas, that’s true, but when it comes to writing books, ideas only get you so far. What I’m going to need are some endings around here — so I’m adding that to my vague plans too. At least one of these will have an ending before I get my line edits. Might not have a middle, but we’ll deal with that later.
Also, I would like that have enough of a well-polished sample to send to my agent of something that she can get a feel for what I’m working on right now. Top contenders for that are projects 1, 2 and (perhaps controversially) 5.
So, now I have my inventory… now I guess I let myself play.