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But which book?!
I signed up for A Round of Words in 80 Days at the end of NaNo. The intention then was to turn Miasma from a very extended, very bad outline into an actual novel, but as it gets closer, I'm having doubts. And it's not as if I don't have other choices...
Miasma: This is what I should be doing. It's a ghost story set in ancient Greece; a housewife gets her life ripped apart and defeats some necromancers to get it back together. Or something.
Pros: What I wrote for NaNo was basically a very extended outline, but it does mean that I have an outline. It's reasonably fresh in my mind, and I still like the idea.
Cons: I don't like the ending much; it gets very metaphysical and I dislike the whole thing where Timandra goes into the Underworld (which is the entirety of Act Four). Also, while I still like the idea, the thought of doing more of it kind of makes me want to vomit. This will pass, but not by the third of January.
That Regan and Meredith Thing: Book 1 of the as-yet-untitled quartet about my longest-standing characters is eating at my brain, again. The quartet as a whole is an asexy love story about a pair of 'angels' (closer to Jedi than real angels) and their fall and, um, 'rise' again. Book 1 is about them going to war because OMG YOU GUYS, RAIDERS, WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING.
Pros: These are by far my best-developed characters. Meredith in particular is almost always active in my head. I'm still excited about writing this quartet after nearly seven years and a few false starts (including NaNo 2008). And I think that this time I've got their world sorted out properly.
Cons: Outline is not entirely coherent. World is a mess; I keep having to rip it apart and put it back together again. And the first book's a war story. I'm terrible at writing war, even war interspersed with you-must-find-the-magic-McGuffin, it's-not-you-it's-that-she'll-sleep-with-me, touch-my-cupboards-and-die and help-I-think-my-best-friends-are-turning-evil...
Also, I should be doing Miasma.
Unluck: This one came to me about two days before NaNo, but it came in a bolt of such inspiration that I already have most of an outline, half a worldbuild and a few potential other stories to take place in the same world. A young girl meets a karma spirit that's had its luck stolen by a rogue karma spirit; they team up to stop the rogue one.
Pros: Given how fast it came to me, I'm fairly sure that I could fill in the gaps without much trouble. I like it; I'm interested to know what else is going on in this world.
Cons: It's very new. The protagonists have little personality so far. I'd probably be better just doing worldbuilding for it and writing it later.
The Memories of Chester Snitterfield: Man discovers he's locked in an eternal loop of betrayal and death with a few of his friends. Tries to break out of loop, perpetuates loop, finds out what loop is for, fights against loop creator, fails miserably.
Pros: This world got forcibly built when I used it for an RP campaign, so not only do I have more of it than I would otherwise have ever made, I even have a few PCs who can cameo if I feel like it. And writing it has been made a billion times easier by Chaotic Shiny's zoomorph generator.
Cons: Unhappy ending (whatever I write this year, I'm hoping to send it to a publisher). It's also by far the most alien fantasy world I've created, and the worldbuilding is harder as a result.
That Eloise Thing: Last but not least, there's Eloise. Ah, Eloise. She turns up in my head every six months or so with a new piece of worldbuilding and then wanders off again. Attempts to make her stick around and do things on my schedule have so far been unsuccessful. She's living in a world where humans have killed the gods and taken their places, and I think she's a demigod. It's hard to be sure, since she won't tell me what the plot is.
Pros: When poked, she does tend to turn up briefly. World is intriguing.
Cons: She doesn't stick around; world is intriguing mostly because I'm curious and she won't give me answers. Probably best to wait until she's ready?
Most of these are back-burner projects that get occasional poking. Regan & Meredith and Chester Snitterfield are the two closest to being ready; Regan & Meredith are the ones that I want to write right now, and it really is about time that I got any of these onto paper. But, argh. Should be doing Miasma.
What to write, what to write...
/\/\/\
This is the THIRD TIME she's done this:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Miasma: This is what I should be doing. It's a ghost story set in ancient Greece; a housewife gets her life ripped apart and defeats some necromancers to get it back together. Or something.
Pros: What I wrote for NaNo was basically a very extended outline, but it does mean that I have an outline. It's reasonably fresh in my mind, and I still like the idea.
Cons: I don't like the ending much; it gets very metaphysical and I dislike the whole thing where Timandra goes into the Underworld (which is the entirety of Act Four). Also, while I still like the idea, the thought of doing more of it kind of makes me want to vomit. This will pass, but not by the third of January.
That Regan and Meredith Thing: Book 1 of the as-yet-untitled quartet about my longest-standing characters is eating at my brain, again. The quartet as a whole is an asexy love story about a pair of 'angels' (closer to Jedi than real angels) and their fall and, um, 'rise' again. Book 1 is about them going to war because OMG YOU GUYS, RAIDERS, WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING.
Pros: These are by far my best-developed characters. Meredith in particular is almost always active in my head. I'm still excited about writing this quartet after nearly seven years and a few false starts (including NaNo 2008). And I think that this time I've got their world sorted out properly.
Cons: Outline is not entirely coherent. World is a mess; I keep having to rip it apart and put it back together again. And the first book's a war story. I'm terrible at writing war, even war interspersed with you-must-find-the-magic-McGuffin, it's-not-you-it's-that-she'll-sleep-with-me, touch-my-cupboards-and-die and help-I-think-my-best-friends-are-turning-evil...
Also, I should be doing Miasma.
Unluck: This one came to me about two days before NaNo, but it came in a bolt of such inspiration that I already have most of an outline, half a worldbuild and a few potential other stories to take place in the same world. A young girl meets a karma spirit that's had its luck stolen by a rogue karma spirit; they team up to stop the rogue one.
Pros: Given how fast it came to me, I'm fairly sure that I could fill in the gaps without much trouble. I like it; I'm interested to know what else is going on in this world.
Cons: It's very new. The protagonists have little personality so far. I'd probably be better just doing worldbuilding for it and writing it later.
The Memories of Chester Snitterfield: Man discovers he's locked in an eternal loop of betrayal and death with a few of his friends. Tries to break out of loop, perpetuates loop, finds out what loop is for, fights against loop creator, fails miserably.
Pros: This world got forcibly built when I used it for an RP campaign, so not only do I have more of it than I would otherwise have ever made, I even have a few PCs who can cameo if I feel like it. And writing it has been made a billion times easier by Chaotic Shiny's zoomorph generator.
Cons: Unhappy ending (whatever I write this year, I'm hoping to send it to a publisher). It's also by far the most alien fantasy world I've created, and the worldbuilding is harder as a result.
That Eloise Thing: Last but not least, there's Eloise. Ah, Eloise. She turns up in my head every six months or so with a new piece of worldbuilding and then wanders off again. Attempts to make her stick around and do things on my schedule have so far been unsuccessful. She's living in a world where humans have killed the gods and taken their places, and I think she's a demigod. It's hard to be sure, since she won't tell me what the plot is.
Pros: When poked, she does tend to turn up briefly. World is intriguing.
Cons: She doesn't stick around; world is intriguing mostly because I'm curious and she won't give me answers. Probably best to wait until she's ready?
Most of these are back-burner projects that get occasional poking. Regan & Meredith and Chester Snitterfield are the two closest to being ready; Regan & Meredith are the ones that I want to write right now, and it really is about time that I got any of these onto paper. But, argh. Should be doing Miasma.
What to write, what to write...
The Continuing Adventures of Bad History Writer
This is the THIRD TIME she's done this:
However, he [Plutarch] viewed Sparta through the mirage of an unchanging Lycurgan system set up in the distant past,Mirage, n. An optical phenomenon, esp. in the desert or at sea, by which the image of some object appears displaced above, below, or to one side of its true position as a result of spatial variations of the index of refraction of air.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
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Regan and Meredith are the only outright love story, though.
Except Tydon and Violet, but they're part of a communal world and I'm basically just letting everyone else assume that they're doing it. ONLY I NEED TO KNOW.I am very, very tempted by the idea of getting them written at last.And I get to use a Regan icon! It's all good.