So, I’ve finished up the outline to the first book and I’m starting on the second one. I’m going to finish the outlines for the first three books before I put finger to keyboard and write the novels themselves.

While part of the definition of progression fantasy deals with obvious levels of power, and in the novel I have characters growing in magical, combative, or physical might. I have a character who takes a different journey. The character starts out as an entitled woman who thinks she’s going to inherit her father’s criminal enterprise just because she is the only child, but becomes a leader on her own merit. She gains diplomatic power. I thought that would be an interesting twist in the genre, and it makes it interesting to read to see her change from the intitled to the respected.

My horror novel is an entirely different matter. I’ve come to a point and I have no idea how to get to the next scene. Familiar readers of this blog will recognize this as ‘Tuesday’. I’m not going to get stressed over it, I’ve got dozens of other things to do. I just have to stay in the habit of working, especially since I am being a little ambitious with my Patreon tiers. I also know that my mind works best on a problem when it’s not solely focused on it. Besides, all I have to do is get them out of the airport to their next haunted location. Easy peasy. I say it’s easy because I’m the author and I’ve never had to deal with an airport.

That’s all that really going on right now. Just me trying to herd all these cats. Wish me luck.

I’m feeling a lot better about things now. I was floundering a little bit with The Show Must Go On, but thanks to some friends (thanks, Grovewood!) I am back to being focused and ready to write. I had a good meeting with my writing group, so I’ve got some work cut out for me as far as Resurrectionist’s Blues go and I’ll get to that later on next week.

I like having everything lined up and humming along. I’m still outlining the Patreon series, and I’ve come to a horrible, horrible truth: I need to outline.

I can tell the difference in between when I outline and when I’m winging it. Winging it is The Show Must Go On: I have long moments of productivity, but when I get stuck in something, everything comes to a screeching halt. Outlining it is the Patreon series: I’m going from scene to scene and making notes, and I don’t feel there’s going to be a problem writing the prose since I have a guide.

Somewhere, my middle school English teacher is laughing.

My big problem is that I go down some weird trails in writing and I’ll end up somewhere I didn’t plan out. Sometimes, that’s good in that if I don’t know where I’m going, there’s little chance the reader will, either. However, like the last writing session I had, I end up in a dark dead end and no clear way out. If I outline, I’m having a map to the end. I’m just worried that a lot of the spontenatiety that I like about writing might be undone.

It’s all still plastic anyways, but I’m going to map out at least the first three books and see how things work out. If I get moderately successful, then I can keep on going (in my head, I have a twenty book series). If I fail, I’ll at least have a trilogy that I can sell on Amazon and bow out. Either way, I am moving forward. I have to move forward and see if I can bring things together.

So – onto other things…anyone seen any good movies? I watched Nope and I am looking for more horror films. The Invitation looks interesting, but I’m not sure about the whole vampire thing. Maybe it’s that I’m tired of vampires being objects of passion. Yes, I know they’re a Victorian Age symbol of lust, but I would like to bring back some fear to them. Let’s be afraid of our dark and forbidden desires, not embrace them and tap our veins like a junkie. Maybe that’s what I’ll do a few years down the road – write a vampire novel that bucks a lot of the conventions we have. Which means I must read a lot of vampire books. Any suggestions?

Well, that’s all for now, hope to talk to y’all later.