Week 30 - Currently Trending

 

Update – Things are going much better this week than they have for the past few months. I’m back working on the detective book, even though I still fear for its chances in the current market. I’ve started a romance story, now that I know I’ve still got a job and the publisher’s not going under. Not this week, anyway. Next week I’ll be getting an assignment, which always messes up my schedule. Or something else could break down and require expensive repairs. My upcoming paychecks aren’t anywhere near as generous as the one I had to nudge for. Better cut junk food out of the budget.

All the recent controversial topics (diversity in particular) along with my tendency to whine in public (well, I am using this blog in place of therapy. Like I said, the budget’s tight) has apparently cost me viewers. The Hong Kong bots have abandoned me entirely. Looks like Singapore has taken their place, though not in the former huge numbers. A few folks in the US of A are sticking by me; probably white Republicans. My faithful fan in Switzerland still shows up from time to time. And I’ve got my first Russian bot! Only the one, but it’s a start. Is that you, Vladimir? Doubtful, but the notion of my words appearing on a screen in the Kremlin does bring a smile to my face.

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The other week I mentioned the possibility I’ve written a book that may not be sellable in our current political climate, burdened as it is with a protagonist who’s a straight white adult male. I’m not going to change him. At my glacial rate of production, tastes and markets and publisher mandates may well swing back in my favor by the time I’m finally ready to shop it around. In the meantime, I detailed how easily my idea could be…well, let’s just call it “adapted” to better fit current publishers’ preferences. If somebody faster wants to take a whack at writing and marketing that version, knock yourself out. Your characters won’t be anything like mine, and the execution of the general idea will be totally different, I guarantee it. Just give me a nod in the dedication, m’kay? (Do not dedicate it to Rod Serling. I call dibs on him for my dedication.)

The other ideas in my pipeline at the moment are all romances, which always have a market so I’m not worried about them, even though they’re paranormal and that’s on the downswing right now. I have a couple small epublishers in mind who are always hungry for content, so we’re good.

Then there’s the currently-lucrative Young Adult market. At the moment “romantasy” appears to be the flavor of the month. Near as I can tell, that’s a standard romance in a fantasy setting, preferably with main characters at or below voting age. We had those in days of yore; they were shelved in the Science Fiction section because there really wasn’t a separate Young Adult genre back in the Paleolithic. Apparently romance writers are writing these now, by aging down their characters and throwing in dragons and elves. Hey, whatever puts food on the table.

Actually, I’d had this idea myself a couple years ago. I had some romance book ideas that I realized would probably work a lot better as YA novels. Just make the protags between 17-20 and keep the sex to a minimum. I grew up reading and writing stories like this so it’s not a huge stretch for me.

Except, me being me and therefore contrary, I’m putting my own spin on it. No generic dragons and elves, chosen ones or palace intrigue for me. The ideas I’m toying with fall firmly into science fiction’s purview. The one involves a group of genetically-engineered teenagers with superpowers; the other is about an invasion of alien shapeshifters out to take over the earth. In both cases the lead is female, mostly because, like I said, these were originally going to be standard adult romance novels. At least I was ahead of the curve on that one.

As far as adhering to diversity goes, I think that’s covered too. My superheroine is white and straight, but one of her comrades is Asian. I don’t know why or when I made that decision; it just seemed to fit him. The biggest problem is going to be one of the other girls who, frankly, is a ditz. Mean girls are okay—they’re  practically a requirement in YA—but I don’t know if honestly stupid girls are allowed in books any more. She’s also white and blonde. If she was male this wouldn’t be a problem. I’ll worry about that when or if I ever write this. As for the invasion story, the aliens in their natural form are vaguely humanoid; they take whatever shape is required by circumstances. They’re literally gender fluid, normally sexless but going from male to female as needed for breeding. My heroine here is an alien who lives among humans. She imprinted on the woman who raised her so she thinks of herself as female, although she has no problem with turning male if a mission calls for it. When she meets another of her kind, that one adapts to her by assuming the form of a handsome male. She literally makes a man out of him.

I can’t say when or if I’ll get around to these. It depends on how the others work out. Should I write one, I’m guessing by the time it’s done the romantasy fad will be over. That’s fine. Good books don’t follow trends anyway. They start them. Maybe I can start a trend and be ahead of the curve for once. At least it gives me something to aim for. See y’all next week.

Are We There Yet?

Yes, I’m still here, more or less. And still writing. You’d think with Covid keeping us homebound for the last year or so, I would have had plenty of time to work on that series I talked about—what, maybe ten years back or something? Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but when you write as slowly as I do it can feel like that sometimes. Sooner or later, however, things get done. Maybe.

So why isn’t my series finished yet?

This next part’s going to contain a lot of excuses, so I’ll do you a favor and mark when it’s over. When you get bored, jump down to the bolded bit. I won’t mind.

To recap: I needed to pay for a new air conditioner, so I decided to write a romance series about a family of Texas cowboys who double as vampire slayers. It’s a closed series, meaning the collected books tell a single long story, with individual books being the “chapters.” I actually plotted for once and decided I’d need eight books in all: seven romances and the big wrapup. Got my characters, got my plot, got to work and whipped out a book in (for me) record time.

Unfortunately, it was Book #3. Yes, I know. Most people start with Book #1. And I would have, but I really liked the characters in Book #3, and the plot took off and I couldn’t wait to work on it every day, and next thing you know I’ve got a finished draft. Yay!

And almost immediately ran head on into a writer’s block.

Now, I’m a slow writer to start with. There are writers out there who can do 5000 or more words a day, day after day, week after week. They’re the ones you’ve heard of because they publish a book per month. Plus sidebar stories. And they still have time left over to chat with people on Twitter. My hat is off to them, because I will never be among their number. I’m lucky if I can hit 1000 words in a day. Skipping housework doesn’t help me, either, because I do that anyway.

I started Book #1. Hit a snag and couldn’t go on. Started Book #2. Made good progress—I liked the characters, the plot was shaping up, two side characters did something that even I wasn’t expecting—

Then I got to the sex scene. Stopped me dead. I tried going back to Book #1. Nope, no luck there. I wrote random scenes from further up the plotline. Started Book #4, realized it wasn’t working, let that one peter out. Then Covid hit and I had to get home WiFi because the library shut down and I needed Internet access to download files for my freelance job. With everything closed and home WiFi, I didn’t even need to leave the house.

So I…didn’t write. I watched a lot of videos on YouTube. I watched TV. I took naps. My off-and-on video game addiction flared up with a serious vengeance. Looking back, I was probably depressed. Or overwhelmed by the notion of coordinating an eight-book opus and making sure all the plot threads worked. Or lazy. It’s often hard to tell. Procrastination is a problem I’ve wrestled with for years.

Okay, enough of this shit. HERE ENDETH THE WHINING.

The good news: after almost a full year of farting around, I’m back on track again. I started writing longhand and lo and behold, it’s working out. Probably because a sheet of lined notebook paper offers way fewer distractions than the Internet. The female lead started coming to life, and just this morning I decided the male lead looks like Gerald McRaney, a fave of mine from the ‘80s. He’s a werewolf in a cowboy hat with a moustache and a receding hairline. You got a problem with that?

Pity this is Book #7. The rest are all still stuck.

Well, too bad. I’m writing, and that’s all that counts. I’ll worry about the others when this one is done. If I have to write the entire series out of order, that’s the way it’s gonna be. Because that’s how I’ve decided to handle this: I’m going to write the entire series at the same time, and not even think about marketing Book #1 until I’ve got at least six of the others finished in draft form. It’s the only way I’ll be able to guarantee I can release a book a month. Disney/Marvel can afford to let a year or two pass between movies. That doesn’t work for ebook publishing. When you’re doing a series, the faster chapters come out, the better. Nobody wants to wait for anything anymore.

Don’t worry. I already know how the story ends. That won’t be a problem. The problem is my bad case of sequelitis. A throwaway character from Book #3 took on a life of her own; she’s got a trilogy lined up as soon as I finish the series. Then the main characters from Book #3 come back for a reprise. Or two. I didn’t realize until recently his mother was a literal witch. And so it goes…