Writing Updates: Ghosts, Guillotines, and Birds, Oh My!
Here's a look at what I've been working on!
Dove Keeper: Dove Keeper is complete and revised at 83K. It will definitely be published in one form or another; I'm determined. I feel incredibly blessed for the feedback and enthusiasm I have received so far. I wrote this book as a love letter to Gothic lit and an exploration of grief and love though three female POVs, and I hope the story resonates with those who need it. While we wait, I've been making up some neat infographics surrounding the history of the story! Birds in a Cage: A Dove Keeper sequel I've kept mostly quiet about. Occurring in 1944, it follows a main POV from Dove Keeper, a mentally ill, bisexual woman. The plot is a bizarre, lurid horror murder-mystery that goes for a mix between Agatha Christie and Lovecraft, a more 20th century horror feel than Dove Keeper, which takes place in WWI but is inspired by Gothic lit. There's also more with exploring sexuality, and the purpose was to have a story with a heroic character who experiences psychosis and dissociative episodes without the psychosis being a sinister gimmick ("Their dissociative alternate identity was the killer all along!"). Concerning the main threat: Without spoiling much, I'll just say the Gothic influences are still present! I finished the first draft and will be revising with critique partners in the coming months. I've already received initial feedback and will revise with that before resubmitting the work to my partners. Yield the Ghost: I asked my followers on Facebook and Twitter to vote on my next project; I wanted help deciding between my many ideas, and y'all came through! The choices were a ghost love story (Yield the Ghost), a Dracula retelling (Castles in the Air), and a Faustian romcom featuring Satan (Hot as Hell). Yield the Ghost, the newest idea, won with Dracula in second place, and I have fully outlined Ghost. I will work on it first, and then the other two ideas.
What are you working toward this month?
