What are you working on right now?

[Phyrebrat]

Thanks Toby and Div!! That’s lovely.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I've got my The Beast of Wheeler Ridge for free on Amazon right now, and didn't even realize it! So I'm playing catch up as fast as I can making the announcement, which should have started yesterday. Just having a ton of trouble prioritizing all my tasks, all the books, my agent, my publishers--all of it is just coming down so fast and heavy on me. My twin sister just died and I'm numb from shock on that account. Everything at once is getting really hectic. I hope I pull out of this.

I’m so sorry to hear of your loss, Chris

 

[Topher]

Hi everyone, new to the site and really loving all the amazing resources here!

I'm completely new to creative writing, not having tried any since GCSE English 20 years ago. I've done a lot of professional and academic writing in the meantime, but nothing fictional. For the past month or so I've been stuck inside with suspected long covid, and during that time i have been really enjoying learning about writing.

I'm currently working on something that might end up novel length if I can stick with it. The original idea was a fantasy story built around a magic system that enables me to explore the Marxist concept of exploitation (I recently finished a PhD on Marx and evidently can't get it out of my system). So it's set in a fairly low technologically-developed society, where an industrial Revolution has occurred based on the exploitation of workers' 'magic'. The main plot focuses on some revolutionaries who are trying to take over their factory.

I am also very into cyberpunk, and had originally thought of getting into creative writing with the idea of writing a cyberpunk novel. Now, I'm trying to bring some of the feel of cyberpunk to this fantasy world, with characters that try to subvert the (quite basic, magic-based) technologies of their day to profit from the system/maybe help bring it down.

Hope that doesn't sound too silly! It's funny how an idea can sound so fun in your head and then feel so odd when you write it out in summary like that.

 

[.matthew.]

@Topher Welcome.

There's a 'similar' vein of thought in The Grimnoir Chronicles, albeit it plays out in the background as a bit of a side plot. You might like to read them if you haven't as it deals with how magic could affect society and industry. One type are the 'heavies', people who can affect gravity to enable them to lift heavy things. They are hated for stealing people's work and stereotyped as big stupid brutes.

 

[Topher]

Thanks @.matthew. that sounds great, I'll see if I can get hold of it, thanks!

 

[Toby Frost]

I think that sounds like an interesting idea for a fantasy novel. I wrote a fantasy story earlier this year with rebellious peasants and ended up knowing more than I'd expected about field enclosures and peasant uprisings. I've always thought there would be an interesting fantasy novel about groups like the Levellers and Chartists, too.

Occasionally, I get an idea that just seems to work. In the WIP, I had a doctor character who had to flee the scene, and ever since I've wondered how to get him back into the plot. A subplot involves villains trying to incapacitate a minister. Today I realised that the villains could poison her, and the doctor could come back to help save her life. A rare example of the story unexpectedly working out!

 

[Wayne Mack]

Welcome @Topher

You can find the official intro thread at https://www.sffchronicles.com/forum/introductions/ It can also be found at the bottom of the main page.

 

[Steve Harrison]

I'm over 40,000 words into a fantasy comedy/drama novel. A simplified summary of the story:

Ken Duberry is married to Jean and their marriage is in crisis. He is also married to Sharon, and their marriage is even more of a mess. But one of the marriages exists only in a recurring dream and Ken has to find out which is real. Even if it kills him.

It's been a huge amount of fun to write, particularly as both of Ken's 'worlds' are filled with the same characters, only in different roles in each 'life' (he is the only constant). I've now completed a major halfway edit and I'm hoping to have the novel finished early in the new year.

 

[msstice]

Ken Duberry is married to Jean and their marriage is in crisis. He is also married to Sharon

Old man on porch: <spits tobacco> There's your problem right there.

But seriously, this sounds like a very awesome story. I would read it even though I tend to not like romcom or romantic themes. Reminds me of time travel/alternate world type stories, where the MC discovers characters they know in different circumstances/personalities.

 

[Steve Harrison]

Old man on porch: <spits tobacco> There's your problem right there.

But seriously, this sounds like a very awesome story. I would read it even though I tend to not like romcom or romantic themes. Reminds me of time travel/alternate world type stories, where the MC discovers characters they know in different circumstances/personalities.

Thanks. It's taken off in a number of ways I didn't anticipate, which makes every writing session a journey of discovery.

 

[Droflet]

Great idea, Steve. Now, roll up your sleeves and get at it, good sir.

 

[Topher]

Welcome @Topher

You can find the official intro thread at https://www.sffchronicles.com/forum/introductions/ It can also be found at the bottom of the main page.

Thanks @Wayne Mack ! I assumed there must be a thread like that but for some reason couldn't see it!

 

[Guanazee]

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here in several months as I took a detour into children's writing (and got a publishing deal and agent!).
Anyway, now I'm working on something to meld children's and sci-fi. It's a chapter book series for ages 6-9 set in the near future on the moon. The first book is called First Toe on the Moon and I just finished the first draft at 6k. I'm now planning out the next three for my agent to review.
I started writing these because I couldn't find realistic sci-fi for my kids in that age range exploring interesting ideas common to sci-fi, but new to young kids (outer space colonies/food production, AI, working realistically with aliens, etc.). The main plots are character flaw/development, the sci-fi is more setting related.

Also working on a new sci fi short story for adults with a non-linear timeframe, so I'll see how that one goes.

 

[Biskit]

Still working on my time-travelling space-opera, but now re-writing a whole thread from the start. I thought it was fine, but it turns out that when I wrote this stuff about four years ago, what I really did was a series of vignettes to capture ideas, with only the loosest idea of a plot running through, and time-line inconsistencies that not even the time-travel can straighten out.

Ho-hum.

 

[msstice]

what I really did was a series of vignettes to capture ideas

At some point I realized this about my current WIP. While I am rewriting a whole bunch of it, these were very, very important for me to internalize my story. I think what this was for me was basically an incomplete first draft which I started rewriting before people strictly start rewriting a draft.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Ooh, Lyme, nice. If you need a beta for it, you know where I am.

I'll be sending you my first draft soon - the deadline is 30th Nov... Although I can hear your little impatient witch-voice going 'get awwwwn with it!'

I'm pretty happy actually because the editor was posting on Twitter yesterday and I asked if my premise (Jamesian/Dickens Ghost Story for Xmas-vibe) was on target and he agreed so I'm happy. And even if I don't get accepted, I'll be happy to have something that is quite universal (in terms of subbing).

I'll prob beg for a few other beets before the 30th so ...<hint hint>

pH

 

[Mouse]

Yay!

 

[Biskit]

At some point I realized this about my current WIP. While I am rewriting a whole bunch of it, these were very, very important for me to internalize my story. I think what this was for me was basically an incomplete first draft which I started rewriting before people strictly start rewriting a draft.

The trouble with this one is that I wrote what I've got while I was doing a property renovation. I was there mon-fri each week, and the writing was my only "refuge" from the wash/dry/paint type cycle day-in, day-out, 8am-8pm. I've just got to the end of re-reading, and the last two chapters get increasingly patchy.

So far as I can see, I mostly wrote one of the other threads at that time, and when I came to straighten that out, it needed a major overhaul.

That said, although the structure is a mess, the writing itself is mostly good, full of ideas and fun to go through, although I can also hear the underlying "stir-crazy" that defined my weeks on the job.

 

[Timebender]

I like the sound of both of those.

Thanks!

 

[F.J. Hansen]

Recently finished a proofreading/editing run on the story so far of my WIP, Final Frontier. Back to work on Chapter 23, featuring a subplot involving my MC's son being framed for attempted rape.