This post is part of the brand new WIP Wednesday Link-up For Writers. The theme this week is “What Projects Are You Working On?” Join the link-up and show off your current projects! 

This year has been a scattered one for me, writing-wise, but the last couple weeks have done wonders for my motivation. My goal for this year is to write everyday, to stay focused on what’s important for the story instead of getting mired in fiddling edits, and to actually finish my work.

Here’s a taste of the projects I’m currently working on:

The Other Side – A Novel Series

Ah, TOS. My work perpetually in progress. The Other Side is my pet project, a funny, adventurous, at times heart-breaking fantasy series with a moving Door, a magical bracelet, a corrupt and xenophobic government, murder, kidnappings, LGBT protagonists and several different center-stage queer romances that is very dear to my heart.

I’m trying to edit Books One and Two together into a single book. Once I’m done, I think it’ll be a much stronger novel with an exciting, satisfying ending — but it means I’m dismantling almost 190,000 words of fiction and cutting up two narrative arcs to create one cohesive, coherent story. And that is proving really, really difficult. Feel free to send cookies and Twizzlers.

Snippet:

Lightning cracked overhead, turning the world a harsh, unnatural white. Another crack and it was black again, the rain sheeting down, and how was he supposed to see to escape, and why in the world, or why in this world, did he keep getting himself into situations that mandated he run for his life?

There came the slight rustle then, of the bracelet to Charley’s wrist, and he had to agree — it had to have something to do with the Object. One man alone could not generate this amount of bad luck.

My NaNoWriMo Novel: A Fantasy Forest Adventure

For NaNoWriMo this year, I’m going to take a break from my perpetual TOS edits and work on a silly idea I’ve been nursing for a few months: a fantasy adventure novel about a quest through a magical forest. There’s a deadly plague ravaging a village, necromancers bringing the corpses back to life, a princely hero hoping to find a cure amongst faerie magic before his boyfriend dies of the plague, an asexual wizard who can shoot fireballs out of her hands (and keeps accidentally burning things down), and the scrappy kleptomaniac thief who runs into them both as he’s escaping into the forest with some stolen something, and decides he’ll tag along on their noble quest as it seems as good an alibi as any. This’ll be so much fun to write.

Snippet:

“On a walk, indeed. Do you see his clothes? He’s a hoodlum, on the run.”

“And what’s wrong with that? I’m a hoodlum, too, technically. On the run.”

James’ chin snapped in her direction. “Are you really?”

“Did I not mention that?”

“Who are you on the run from?”

“Um.” With a flick of her fingers, Ash formed a spark in her palm. She rolled the flame up and down her knuckles with an air of nonchalance. “Do you know that fire, back in the village? That small little thing that had everyone … screaming and running around fetching buckets?”

James slowed to a stop. “The fire that burned down six houses. And killed about a dozen pigs. And irreparably damaged the mill–”

“All right, you’ve made your point, you’ve heard of it–”

“You started that?”

“Unintentionally.”

“Is that why you agreed to take me through the forest?” James was shouting now, though he hardly realized it. “You’re on the run. You’re–” He laughed, breathlessly, and feeling no great amount of good humor. “I’m aiding and abetting a criminal.”

Hopper’s head appeared from over the rise. “Oi, who you calling a criminal?”

“Her,” said James, voice cracking as he pointed at Ash, “I’m calling her a criminal. We’re not even talking about you.”

Super Hero Short Story

I’m on a bit of a time crunch here. Meerkat Press is open for submissions for a super hero anthology, and I’ve got the scraps of a story that might fit their collection. It’s about a guy with pretty terrible luck who gets electrocuted several times in quick succession and finds himself able to conduct and control electricity. He’s trying to find a way to use his powers — to help people, sure, but at his boyfriend’s behest he also finds himself starting a twitter, a blog, designing a logo… The pressure to self-brand is strong with this one, but how is he supposed to market his super power if he can’t even figure out anything super to do with it? Because, well. He can jumpstart cars. And could maybe be helpful in a blackout. Otherwise … shooting electric bolts out of his hands isa skill proving difficult to monetize.

Another silly, fun story that I’m hoping to finish before the anthology’s September 15th deadline. Fingers crossed!

Snippet:

“What the hell happened in here?” were Zack’s first words as he shouldered into the apartment late that afternoon, his arms overloaded with notebooks and loose papers he had brought home to grade. A worksheet slipped free of the bundle and wafted, feather-like, to the ground which was, dumpster-like, covered in blackened and charred rubble.

Jake would’ve lied and said they had been robbed, but even the stickiest-fingered of thieves were polite enough not to burn down coffee tables and leave scorch marks gouged into the walls.

“Okay, I want you to forget for a second that our security deposit is definitely forfeit,” he said, kicking through the wreckage. (“Why does it smell like burnt pennies in here?” said Zack.) “Instead, I need you to—to just watch.”

There you have it, the projects I’m working on! If you’re a writer out there, I hope you decide to do the link-up and show off your stories. : )