If anything new comes out soon-ish, it will probably be a simple “sketch” story. I have three series (The Lady Wore Red, Sacrifice and Testing Grounds) in the air and I need to plot them out a bit to make sure they’re solid. So, that’s my next step unless I need a break and I write something quick inbetween.
Which, by the way, I’m still keeping my eyes open for any good suggestions. Don’t feel shy.
Once I have some general outlines for the the three series, I’ll start writing. I plan to do them in order unless something happens so The Lady Wore Red chapter 5 will be first.
Out of the three, I think Testing Grounds will take the most work to figure out. I don’t plan to have the story suddenly become a “survival in the forest” story. I want to have the character in the city to at some degree and I want the future world to feel right. I very very general idea of what I want to have happen in the series but it definitely needs to be firmed up.
Sacrifice is the less developed out of all three. I didn’t plan for it to be anything more than a single shot. So, I need to do actual world building there. Figure out a basic history and environment and decide where I want to take it. Vague ideas pop up when I let my mind wander on it for a while but nothing solid there.
I could probably write the next chapter for The Lady Wore Red right now. Well not *right* now but when I had a moment. I’ve already got a partial outline for that series but no clear ending. An idea of one but not clear.
I’m not the kind of author that completely plots everything out before I put finger to keyboard. I like to come up with a premise, build the world and characters mentally and then let them loose. I think it helps to make it a little more realistic because situations change as the characters move through the world.
Over the next month, I also might post a little description of each story and where the idea came from so people can get an idea of how things happen or how I see stuff. And maybe some descriptions on how I deal with transformations and different were-animals and things.
Onward!