What are you writing now?

[serria]

Share with us whatever it is you are working on now! Original fiction? Fanfiction? Poetry? Articles? Script? Tell me about it!

I have a ton of short stories that I'd love to finish, iron out and send somewhere to try to get published, as well as (in the much more distant future) a few novels. I consider myself pretty rooted in the fantasy genre (with some sci-fi as well), which is what my novels would be easily classified as... but weirdly, my short stories are pretty much non-genre or simply human drama. I have one developing fantasy novel in particular that's really shaping itself, but the more I work on it, the further away from finishing it I seem.

I also write articles for a local newspaper, but that's basically limited to community events or opinion pieces.

How about you guys?

Comments

[badass_tiger]

I'm writing some Discworld fanfiction for the Small Fandom Big Bang right now. I'm hoping it'll turn out decently long, I haven't written anything more than 15k words in over a year and I want to get my hand back into longfic.

The Cotton Candy Bingo is opening sign-ups tomorrow and I'm super excited! Fluff and romance are definitely my forte.

I write some original stuff, but they're usually very short stories, never long-term projects like some of my fics are. I'm not very interested in writing original - at least, not so far. I have some good ideas I could possibly expand on, but I'm far more into fanfiction and I don't think I'll be going beyond that any time soon.

[serria]

I have never participated in any of those Bingos or prompt sets before, and I don't know why. They seem like a lot of fun, I think I always just worry I won't commit to it. I kind of like sweet, fluffy romance, but I never seem to get really excited about ships that could realistically have those scenes. Have you done prompts like that often?

I used to be pretty much only fanfiction (though I've always written at least some original). But there hasn't been a series recently that I've been so passionate about that I'm less interested in writing my original stuff, as has been in the past.

[badass_tiger]

I think I understand how certain challenges with a lot of deadlines, like big bangs, could be difficult to commit to, but bingos are usually very relaxed, and sometimes they require you to post at least one fic during amnesty to participate in the next round, but that's all.

Fluff has always been what I write the most. Actually, I'm rarely interested in couples where fluff might easily or regularly happen, too. The joy of writing fluff for me has always been the challenge of doing it for couples where things like that normally don't happen, and doing so in a way that is in-character and also satisfactory for the reader. And if I can't do that with a prompt, I subvert or invert the trope instead. Making things happen in an unexpected way is what I love the most. The way I write it just usually turns out cutesy and sweet :D

[sarillia]

I mostly write original fiction.

Just last night I finally started a project I've been plotting for months. It's a fantasy set at a religious temple where a girl has just arrived to become a novice priestess. There's a romance with another novice too.

I'm also going back and working on some WIPs that I've put aside for a while. Let's see, there's the one about a girl who has been treated for delusions in the past who starts dealing with a supernatural problem and has to figure out what is real and what is just another delusion.

There's one about a woman who becomes pregnant by an incubus but says the child is her friend's and faces the scorn leveled at her for having a child out of wedlock so that it won't be killed like the other children who were conceived by the incubus that has been terrorizing their town.

One is a about a goddess who had argued to create humans despite the reservations of her husband. They had a deal that if the humans ever went too far they would get rid of them. He has decided that it is time to talk about implementing that deal. So she transfers her powers to another god and becomes another human in the world they created, thinking that her husband won't destroy it with her there. She starts to question this when a bunch of unusual disasters start happening while she is there.

There are others but I'll shut up now.

[serria]

Wow... each of those WIPs sounds like something I would love to read. Especially the river goddess one, what a cool idea and perspective for a story (I haven't read too much fantasy that takes one of the gods as a protagonist!). I would very much be interested in reading these if you finish them. :D

[sarillia]

Thanks!

In the past I would have said that no one is ever going to read anything I write, but I've recently decided that I'd like to share my writing and try my hand at getting published after all, so we'll see what happens with these WIPs.

[lady_phenyx]

I'm working on two long fanfics and some random little ones whenever the mood strikes me, plus two original novels. Both were Nanowrimo novels, so there's a lot of editing to do.

The first I wrote the first draft of about two years ago. I'm building the world from the ground up, since everyone in it is anthropomorphic. My MC is a doctor who can heal with magic, which is rare enough he's kept it a secret, who's been kidnapped to try and heal a half-crazed super soldier a mafia-like organization created. It's following their fight to be free and get away from the leader who's obsessed with the doctor.

The other I'm still writing, where a pair of sister-goddesses and their fight against a god who is trying to take over the world (dun dun duuuun). They have five mortals helping them, and they have to fight the five mortals the god has chosen to mirror them, while everything heads for war and my MC(female) and the Night Goddess try to ignore how they're falling in love. (So, pretty much I'm trying my hand at an epic fantasy with a seven main character cast, could go up to nine main characters, only two of which are male.)

[inkdust]

Wow, that fantasy epic is intense! I've written a rough draft with four POV characters (3rd person limited, not first) and that was tough. Your idea sounds awesome. I lean toward a higher female to male character ratio and I wish more fiction/fantasy stories did the same.

[lady_phenyx]

Thanks - it is being intense, I've never written a war before and now I'm stuck a bit. I do tend towards more female characters, or at least female main characters. Actually, I think the doctor story is the first novel I've worked on with a male MC. (The others have a female witch, female vampire, and two witches at magic college for MCs, and the one where three females and their male friend are trying to take back their kingdom - they need rewriting very badly.)

[inkdust]

War is tough. The trilogy that I'm going to try to build from the multiple POV draft is a dystopian story that starts with a government takeover and ends with a government re-takeover and I'm so intimidating trying to figure out the world building because I'm going for realism and I know very little about government and politics and nothing about war. Then adding in things like survival skills...why do we write such difficult things, you know? Hah.

[inkdust]

Um...intimidated*

[sarillia]

I wish you luck with your epic fantasy. My last finished story had 11 POV characters and each of them had friends and family and stuff and I was getting so frustrated trying to keep track of everyone.

I like the sound of the story. I've realized that I have a thing for goddess characters.

I like the doctor one too.

[lady_phenyx]

Thanks, I think I need the luck. I'm at the part that didn't get planned out, and it needs a lot of setup to make it work. Basically, the middle third of the novel - the entire war.

I've come to enjoy my goddesses too - but I keep flailing when trying to decide what exactly limits them. It's no fun when they could just wave a hand and end everything.

The doctor one is being a lot of fun, since I've realized I have certain things I tend to write a lot. I'm trying to get them all out in the doctor novel so I can get them out of my system, lol.

[sarillia]

I know what you mean about the limits. I've written several god(dess) characters and I've had that issue too. In one story, the main character asks one of her goddesses why they can't do something and she says that they have their own gods that have to obey. I wasn't expecting that and if I ever go back to revise that story I will either change it or do a lot more work on that, but it was interesting.

[serria]

Also chiming in to say your goddess epic sounds awesome! And am I reading it right, it has lesbian romance? Please finish it ASAP so I can put it on my Kindle and start reading, like, now. It sounds great, as does the one about the doctor.

[lady_phenyx]

You're reading it right, definitely going for a lesbian romance. There may be some other pairings, but those two are what it's all building up to. I'm trying to finish it, but the middle bit didn't get planned out and it's giving me fits.

It's not the only lesbian romance I've written, the others just need finished or re-written pretty badly. (One is a pair of witches at a magic college vs the vampires trying to overrun the magic community, the other is another fantasy where magic selects a new 'king' every hundred years, and the woman it chose is on the run with the two other women and one man it chose to be her 'court' since the current 'king' has no intention of giving up the throne.)

[serria]

Wow, nice. I write lesbian romance, too. And gay romance. Actually, my problem is that I have little interest in writing straight protagonists, if romance is included at all. I just have more fun writing gay pairings (I'm gay myself, so that might have something to do with it.)

Since I write in the fantasy/sci-fi genre, I always wonder if that's a strike against me when I get to the point of trying to publish something.

I like the witch idea, too. Please let me know if you put anything online, or even have anything published, it sounds like what you write would definitely be something I'd love to read. :D

[sarillia]

I'm the same way with LGB romance. That's why I've been looking into small LGBT publishers who like fantasy. Seems like my best chance at getting something published.

[inkdust]

At this point I'm very much a novelist. I wish I could write some short fiction, but every idea I have seems to come to me with the heft of a novel.

I'm currently working on editing/rewriting a first draft into a second draft of a novel about a girl (22) who inherits a house that turns out to be full of ghosts, literally and figuratively. So anything I post for the next while will be about that process. It's the second time I've finished a novel-length first draft but only my first time editing into a second. Learning like crazy.

[sarillia]

Good luck with your editing! I have finished lots of stories but I'm terrible at editing. I always get too distracted by shiny new ideas to go back and fix up the ones that are already done.

I like the sound of your story too.

[inkdust]

Thanks!

Editing is definitely a different process. I do have plenty of ideas ready to distract me, but I'm not giving myself the option this time because I'm going to seek publication. Still trying not to think about that stage, gah.

[sarillia]

Oh wow, good luck!

I've recently decided that I want to try the publishing thing too. I've been looking into small LGBT publishers since they are most likely to publish the kind of stuff I write. I have a friend who got her first book published with one of them last summer.

[inkdust]

Nice. Mine has a bit of lesbian romance, but I'm hoping someone mainstream will like it. I'm going to try the whole agent route, at least to start, since that's what I've wanted since I was little. If this one fails miserably there, I'll regroup and see what's next. I can't help that ego desire to see it on a shelf in the store.

[agilebrit]

Currently I'm on a short-story-writing jag; I have first drafts of three and am 1300 into a fourth. One of the three is for Deepwood Publishing's Death God's Chosen antho. Normally necromancy is not my thing, but I had a Twitter convo with someone there, and they urged me to write one since they're publishing one of mine in their "Ways of Magic" antho, so... here I am, writing a clockwork necromancer.

I will forever go down as That Werewolf Writer, and the current WIP stars my go-to Mad Scientist. He's married to a werewolf, who is very much the Alpha bitch in the relationship, and in this one she has to wolf him to save his life. Wackiness, as they say, ensues, and everyone's freaking out. Mine is an evil laugh.

I've also realized that I need to upload more icons to this account, because, hey, I'm still mostly over on LJ and never use this except for F!S. But I'm seeing familiar names here, so Hello, everyone!

[serria]

Those sound interesting! I like necromancy and werewolves, though when I think about it, I haven't really read too much of either. In fact, I don't think I've ever read a book (or watched a series) that starred werewolves, instead of them being side characters. (recommendations welcome!) Anyway, good luck with both of those.

And welcome! You'll probably remember me as the anon that always makes witty, perfectly timed comments, the life of the community. Ahem. Something like that. :P Welcome to the community!

[agilebrit]

Thanks! I've just finished going over the first three stories I wrote this year, and I actually like them, so that's a plus. And the reason I did that instead of writing new words in the new story was because I was stuck on a bunch of procedural fallout in it. After discussing it with the Hubby, I've decided to just gloss over that entirely (because it's not important to the actual story) and work on what happens next. "Show, don't tell" is only applicable when showing is important to the plot--especially in short fiction.

As for recs, well! The Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn is excellent--the first one is "Kitty and the Midnight Hour." And I adore the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs--the first one is "Moon Called." If you like romance, you might enjoy her Alpha and Omega series as well, but it wasn't really my cup of tea because romance is so not my thing. And if you like steampunk (or even if you don't, because seriously, these are awesome), grab Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series. The first one is "Soulless."

I've had a pair of werewolf stories published, with another coming out in April. If you care, there's a sticky post at the top of my journal telling where you can find them and my other stuff (now that I've re-imported my entries and gotten most things up-to-date). :)

[ayumidah]

I write both fic and original works. My fics tend to be aimed towards hurt/comfort, friendship stuff, with some romance here and there. My original stories tend towards scifi or fantasy.

[serria]

Sounds cool. :D Good luck with your writing!

[ayumidah]

Thank you :D