FictionMiscellaneous

Spring 2021 Writing Update

9th May 2021 — 0

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FictionMiscellaneous

Spring 2021 Writing Update

9th May 2021 — 0

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated the blog. The good news is it’s because I’ve had my head down writing. Twenty-twenty-one has presented a number of new opportunities that will influencing my writing for the rest of the year.

I’ve written sixty-thousand words in the last four months and a third of that was on my first novella to be published in June by the amazing Eerie River Publishing. Details to follow, but for those of you who wanted a sequel to Thorn in my Side (featured in It Calls from the Sky). You’re in luck. It’s been a challenge and at times great fun to write a longer piece. It’s given me an opportunity to work on skills that are difficult to practise in shorter stories, e.g. a complex multi-character led story, detailed world-building. That said, the first draft came in at 23k and I’ll be looking to tighten up the story by 3k before launch day.

Another interesting writing detour this quarter included, Raven & Drake Publishing’sCandy Capers charity anthology. A collection of sweet family-friendly tales, all proceeds going to The Brain Tumour Charity. I’d love to see a lot more charity calls opportunities. As a big fan of Roald Dahl’s stories, going all Willy Wonka was fun and writing for a younger audience proved an interesting exercise. Hopefully, I didn’t drop too many bombs.

I’ve written a handful of short stories recently that found themselves clipped by target word counts and a couple that were strong enough to easily stretch to a novella if not further, One particular short would make for a great anthology of interlinked shared-world stories. So, my goal this year will be to focus a little more on these longer projects. That said, there are always going to be calls I can’t resist. In this quarter this included:

Title Type Genre Words Publisher Anthology
The Modern Medusa Story Fantasy 1325 Raven and Drake Publishing New Tales of Old
The Sleeping Forest Story Dark Fantasy 1484
Zigzag Story Dark Fantasy 500 Iron Fairie Publishing Flights of Fancy
Meg’s Daughters Drabble Dark Fantasy 100 Beaking Rules Europe Lost Lore & Legends
The Luring Drabble Dark Fantasy 100
The Bean-nighe Drabble Dark Fantasy 100
The Miller’s Offering Drabble Dark Fantasy 100
The Loneliness of a Shepherdess Drabble Dark Fantasy 100
Heart of Thorns Story Fantasy 23380 Eerie River Publishing After
Cut Corners Story Horror 2028 Raven and Drake Publishing Death House
A Family Feast Drabble Horror 100 Black Ink Books Infection
The Scratch Drabble Horror 100
My Replacement Drabble Horror 100
Up to Your Neck In It Drabble Horror 100
The Last Train into Dodge Drabble Horror 100
Don’t Feed The Squirrels Story Fantasy 2950 Raven and Drake Publishing Candy Capers
The Dreams of Thraic Story Sci-fi 5875 Raven and Drake Publishing Death Beyond
Tooth be Told Drabble Horror 100 Black Ink Books Blood lust
Not a Witch Drabble Horror 100
The Late Shift Drabble Horror 100
Hoppy Ever After Drabble Horror 100
Snuffed Out Drabble Horror 100

In addition to writing, I’ve found myself involved in a couple of online events, including:

A live online book launch for Breaking Rules Europe’s new drabble anthology Lost Lore and Legends:

An After Hours chat with the fantastic Time Mendees. It was meant to be about writing, but is mostly about anything but:

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