Lots of creative forces flowing in the past two weeks! Here is a quick rundown of writing updates:
1. I finished a thousand word short story draft for a writer’s challenge that goes live on the 24th. I’m calling it The Showroom and it is set in my science-fantasy setting of The Exerverse. It’s a modern-day setting, quite unlike my tales set in Burus that I have shared so far. This is a world like our own except for a singular (and major) fantastical element: outbreaks of a mysterious affliction with high lethality that can induce rapid physical metamorphosis in its survivors. The setting is not what I would call “Urban Fantasy” and it would be poor speculative fiction for a total lack of explanation of what is causing the changes. So I prefer to class it as science fantasy. I’ll be posting the story up on Aethereal Engines after the contest is over.
2. The writer’s challenge prompt initially inspired a different story altogether: a humorous fantasy story set in Burus. I really like what I have done with it so far. When I reached the thousand word mark, however, I knew that the story I wanted to tell was going to be too long for the format of the contest. So I created The Showroom as my entry instead. Now I’m finishing Out to Pasture as what will probably end up as a three or four thousand word short story.
3. Once I finish Out to Pasture, I’ll be moving on to a novella idea that I simply can’t get out of my head. Currently I’m calling it The Orgcrst and it features a mix of fantasy adventure and romance. I’ve been doing a lot of plotting for it along with research that has helped me to better define my setting and expand some of the premises I have left rather sketchy in Burus. This work is reverberating in all my plans for new tales set there, and inspired some of the things I am doing in Out to Pasture as well. Looking at the outline for The Orgcrst, it should run six chapters and eighteen to twenty four thousand words long, all said and done.
4. I’ve been getting some follow-up feedback on A Contract in Azure and Indigo and assessing what I could do in revision to make it a better piece. I’m still very proud of it, but I know that it could be better if tweaked and edited more.
5. I’ve managed to continue work on Unsundered with all of these other things going on as well! I crafted a good outline for the novel that is working like a road-map and inventory to tell me what I have, what I need, where I’ve been, and where I have to go. That outline exposed some gaps and pitfalls that needed work, and some characters that needed expanding. I’ll get there! I’ve been going through a really transformative period lately with my writing, and I think my breaks into other projects between working on Unsundered are helping me tackle the novel one step at a time. My personal growth as a writer since I first started sometimes shocks me; I think my story is going to be great when it is done.
6. Lastly, I’m sitting on a finished story, A Hymnal upon the Wind, which I’ll probably share on Aethereal Engines in a week or two! This one is very different in tone and style from A Contract in Azure and Indigo: It features fast-paced action and heroics as was my intent with The Pool of Sacred Stars when I started it (and will be again when I return to it). It is another story set in Burus and I think a nice addition to the portfolio of stories I am writing there.
So, yes, I am feeling quite busy and creative right now! Now to get back to that writing…
Aethereal Engineer 
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