It’s been a while since I did a writing update. Or really blogged at all in the last few months. (That’s another reason to love blogfests, they give me a topic to post about)
Truth be told, I haven’t been writing on my main WiP, Dark One’s Mistress, for a while. Tinkering would be a more appropriate word. Opening the file and staring at the pages for ages only to add a word or two … now that is probably the most accurate description of what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks. Despite my plotting, despite my best attempts to push forward, DOM has been sitting at just below 38k for what feels like forever.
But not anymore! It broke the 40k mark this morning.
That is because, over the last few days, I have added about 2,500 words to it. That’s not a typo, people. 2,500! And a large chunk of that was in the last two days. And I’m still adding more, even as I type this, I keep hopping back to write more.
Needless to say, I’ve been over the moon about it. Over the moon! ^_^ These are the difficult chapters for my Main Character, the lead up to the final conflict.
But I know, if it keeps up at this pace, I’m going to burn myself out.
On top of that, and partly the reason I wasn’t getting anywhere with DOM, I’ve added 6k to a bits’n’pieces file I have for Anubis’ Handmaiden. It’s mostly in the free-plotting stage, which leads to things being moved, being rewritten or thrown out altogether. I love the ‘is it doable?’ feeling of such a stage (the answer is yes, yes it is).
But included in all the half-baked plotting is about 2,000 words (one a near-complete chapter, the other a partial) that I’m both a little afraid to keep and thrilled to have completed. Let me say this about them: I was never a young adult writer, but I was a little shocked at how quickly I typed up those 2,000-something words. Here’s an excerpt from it:
She rose from the bed, her nightgown whispering with each movement. One hand slid up his bare chest. Hard. Strong. A warrior’s build. The heat of the desert sands rolled off his skin. A faint, hot scent hung in the air that had nothing to do with the incense. She looked up into those golden eyes. “An offering then?”
His gaze dropped from her face, a faint smile touching his lips. “Merit,” he breathed. Fingers, strong and sure, ran over her shoulders. The thin straps of her nightgown fell away at his touch, chill fabric tumbling to the carpet. His hands slid across her body. Tenderly running through her hair as he tipped her head back. Grazing softly over her breasts. He kissed her neck, the fur of his muzzle tickling.
Of course, working on Anubis’ Handmaiden does lead me to wonder what genre best defines it. And that is hard. I mean, there is no Semi-Historic Fantasy Partially-Paranormal Romance section, is there?
Aldrea Alien 
Semi-historic fantasy, partially-paranormal romance. haha. no, but I would love it if they created that genre.
Love the little excerpt. Congrats on getting some work done. I've been stuck in revision hell for months. Just tinkering. I'm getting ready to start final round revisions but–as I thought I was pretty much already DONE my final revisions–I'm kinda dreading it. I keep saying tomorrow, but somehow it doesn't happen. But, you know…maybe tomorrow…
Good luck with your story.:)
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I love tinkering. So many words just appear in the story to flesh out the 'what the foog' moments that seem to crop up so often.
Thank you. Good luck with your revisions. ^_^
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Impressive word count. I like the descriptive excerpt.
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Thank you. ^_^ It fully shocked me that I'd written so much in such a little space. Guess it was all just sitting in the back of my mind, waiting for me to hit that spot in the story.
Just gotta be careful that I don't burn out. Keep calm and take a breather every now and then.
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Nice! 2500 is a great count. Good luck with the rest of the story. 🙂
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Good luck with your books! Even a word or two a day will lead to thousands. 🙂
And as far as narrowing down your genre, it helps to think what other books it closely resembles. Does it lean toward one genre or another? If so, go with that. It's never a bad thing to think outside the box.
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Thank you! And it so is! ^_^
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Don't I know it! A bit here, a tad there … if I could just stop adding them The Rogue King, then I wouldn't have a 191k Science Fantasy monster! O_O
And I think that Anubis' Handmaiden probably best fits under Paranormal Romance, you know, seeing that there's the whole falling in love with a god, and being a reincarnation of a former lover thing going on with it. I recall seeing a few novels with Egyptian gods in them being labelled as such.
I still wanna call it Semi-Historic Fantasy Paranormal Romance, though. Just for fun. It can go alongside my Semi-Historic Fantasy Paranormal Romance novellas (otherwise known as the Unborn Trilogy). ^_^
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“The fur of his muzzle” – I immediately pictured the jackal-human Anubis, am I right???? Oh my gosh what an intriguing little excerpt! Historical fantasy seems like it might work. “Historical” can be used in various ways when you combine it with fantasy!
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Yes! Jackal-headed Anubis. ^_^
I wish historical fantasy would work. But unfortunately, it only classifies about a third of it (sort of 'flashbacky' parts, though it's another life we're 'flashbacking' to). The rest is set in 'modern times'. Roughly around now.
Hence the Semi Historic Fantasy (I toy with 3000BC for a bit, see?) and Partly Paranormal.
Either way. It's a Romance. ^_^
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