What are you working on right now?

Working on a lineage of Gods and their lives right now. I've named most of the current Gods but I still need to figure out their connection to each other and their parts in the world. I've also got to figure out the backstory to them and develop more of them as I've only got a few. I find this part of the project really fun, it's just a fraction of backstory I need to develop as I've set up so much to work on, it's grown so much. I'm so happy right now, I've finished my work at university for the year so now I can dedicate my time to this!
 
Main WIP. Just about finished the third rewrite but I put up the first 2 chapters to a writing group and they told me what I already know. Chapter 1 stinks. And I can't write as an 18 year old. And my 18 year old knows way too much Latin and fifth century history.

So, driving my own 18 year old daughter back from the bus station, I began a rant about how incompetent I am and how that first chapter just won't behave. She said "Why does your protagonist need to be 18?" The answer was that I was 18 when I first thought of this story and it just stuck.

So last night I got home and wrote a new chapter 1 with a 22 year old archaeology student as my MC. I think (hope) it works.

Before I start rewrite number 4 I'll tidy up the first 3.5k of the new version and ask a couple of people to beta read it for me.

Spent all today in a series of meetings, drumming my fingers impatiently. I NEED to get back to that book now. It finally feels right.

A few weeks down the line, when I crash and burn again, please will some kind soul remind me that Rome wasn't built in a day?
 
Sounds like your daughter's wise.
 
I have just paused a time-spanning space opera, Gourmet to the Stars, 20k words in, to flesh out a 'Humanity gets whupped by Xenophobic alien nasties'. The former is influenced by Andre Norton, Terry Pratchett and Raymond Chandler; the latter is a take on Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, however its anti-heroes are more Moorcock / Aldiss than Heinlein.

On the horizon is a tale called Manchester which is a more conventional after-doomsday tale. Although I've set a 'Civilisation Breaks Down' tale in the US, I've not really tried one in the UK. I enjoyed John Wyndham's takes on the breakdown of society here. Manchester will be between 5k and 10k words.

After that I've a couple of pieces bubbling under, waiting to take form.
Firstly there's Oasis of the White Lily —Theme: Adventure / Scientific Romance. The setting is the Sahara and will be based around a legend of a secret oasis last seen (reputably) in 1485. I'll be toying with pulp writing devices for this.
There's also The Barrequa —Theme: High Medieval Adventure. The setting is modelled on the Camargue in South East France. I may throw in some fantasy elements before it's done.
 
Kerrybuchanan said:
She said "Why does your protagonist need to be 18?" The answer was that I was 18 when I first thought of this story and it just stuck.
Click to expand...

I read a few of Elizabeth Bear's books in the beginning of the year, and she often has older characters, in their thirties or more. :)

As for me, I've been working on organizing and fleshing out the rather convoluted outline for my latest project, a fantasy. And non YA!! Was needing to break away from YA and try something else...
 
Interesting that you say that, Juliana. Outside YA, I've never really wanted to read about teenagers. A lot of the lead characters from older books - pre-1970, perhaps - were middle-aged but still lively enough to have adventures. I think my mind naturally warms to people of about 30-50 as lead characters: old enough to be skilled and to know the ropes, but young enough still to be able to leap about.
 
Hi,

I just got back the first edit of The Stars Betrayed, and have jumped in to working on it. (Have I yet mentioned that I truly hate Word's edit document system. It has taken me all day to do 24 pages.)

Cheers, Greg.
 
Having decided to take a break from writing for various reasons I find myself eating my own words, or at least spitting them onto a page, as an odd idea popped into my head and I thought I'd just write it down for later.

After A week or so mulling it over and starting on Thursday I now find myself 10,000 words in. I'm writing it (at this stage) just for me, but I did put the first thousand words up in the Writing Group Thread and it did not get as crucified as I felt it might have! :D
 
Currently 40% through doing my own rubbishy excuse for proof reading of "Kevlin and the Enchanter". Something I fear I'll never be good at. Still, spotted about 22 items to fix (mostly typos that spell check fine).
 
Just began a novel regarding super awesome people with super awesome powers. It's a just-for-fun project; partially to blow off steam that's been building up in my personal life, and partially to take a break from trying so HARD on my 'real' project.

Enjoying it so far. Not worrying about plot, settings, character arcs. Just good ole' fashion fun, letting it all come to me as I type. Anything can happen, especially as they have super powers and all. :sneaky:
 
Ugh. Had a meeting with a gentleman from Emergents (thingummy for creative folks in Highlands and Islands). I'm hoping to get a place on a mentoring programme. I showed them some of what I had written and they want a blurb of every completed first draft (or more) work I have. Apparently, there are 11 novels, 3 novellas and a collection of children's stories that could be reworked fairly easily into a junior fiction book. 5 blurbs down just 10 more to go.
 
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Wrestling with the penultimate Sir Edric chapter. Confident the plot elements work, but when the first draft's done it'll need a severe fisking.
 
Slogging through my first novel, which is a space opera/cosmic horror/fantasy/weird fiction epic. It's slow going since I insist on being as descriptive as possible.
 
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