2023 is almost over...

Greetings my wonderful readers! Here we are in 2023… in October… which means this year is almost over. The years do roll faster downhill, don’t they? So here’s your update on all things writing:

Progress on the next book has been… slow. I realize that I swore up and down that Book 4 would be the final chapter in the “In Caves & Catacombs” series, but I find myself conflicted on whether to continue with a fifth book. I feel that there is more of the story to tell: what happens to Valentino, Maggie, Susannah, April, Damian, and the others? How do they survive? How do they adapt to the dangers of their new world? To the dangers within themselves?

Here’s what I know: these characters are the bringers of the new world. They will shape everything that comes After. You can see how there is so much more to the story…

And yet!

The first book in the next series, By Scion and Sea, awaits. Set in the same universe and featuring the descendants of the “In Caves & Catacombs” series, the next series explores how the sea people clash with those who bunkered through the apocalypse as they emerge from their underground cities. Love. War. Brutality. Hope. Etc.

I want to jump into this so much… I have a draft that I wrote just about ten years ago now that is in need of serious revision. Well, more like an entire rewrite, really. But I’m struggling to write it because I feel the characters from The Cave are calling to me to write more into their story, which could change how By Scion and Sea comes to be.

Sigh.

And this is how I find myself with zero meaningful progress on either project.

That being said, I am as dedicated as ever to the worlds I have built and those I have yet to build. My writer’s fire still burns brightly, even when internal conflicts suck all the oxygen away.

Please know that I hope to provide more concrete updates on my writing plans and timeline in the coming months. I will also commit to the one project to breathe life into by the New Year.

Thank you all for your ongoing support, and for the wonderful reviews! They all add logs to the fire :)

Progress

Me, trying desperately to slog through the waves at a reasonable pace

So. I weirdly feel accountable for reporting my writing progress when I blog. Which is probably why I haven't posted in a little over a month. Between professional development classes, working, and other exciting personal life developments, it feels like I'm trying to run in water! But here's my progress report anyway, dear readers:

• The first full length novel draft of Out of the Efrenen Sea (working title), is complete at over 80,000 words. I'll be workshopping it all fall and winter, and then begin sending it out to agents/publishers. 
• The third book in the In Caves & Catacombs short story series is in progress! The City is coming along, and I'd estimate I'm about a third of the way through the first draft. It's been a delightful project so far. I'm a sucker for a good romance, especially in doomsday scenarios. It sounds weird, and it is. I won't apologize for it.

So there. There's my progress report. It's happening... slowly. But it's happening!!

Motivation

One memorable night several months ago, I lifted my tablet off the nightstand. It was late, I was over it, but I was going to get through Chapter 12, damn it. But I felt like the story was meandering into a dark, uninteresting hole. So I told myself, "Let's see what Writer's Digest has to say." Instead of clicking on their actual Facebook page, I accidentally loaded everything that had been tagged with #writersdigest, where, lo and behold, someone had tagged a friend with this: "Elle, could you provide a link to the quiz?" 

I am not ashamed to admit that I clicked to see what the heck they were talking about. Divine providence, I thought. It took me to a quiz on character motivation, designed to uncover your "storytelling superpower". Seemed innocuous enough. I started the quiz.

At first, the questions seemed kind of silly. "Pick a season". Okay, sure, whatever. Now I have to pick a color? *sigh* Fine. A photo? Between the ocean, mountain, and desert, duh, I'm going with ocean, have you even read my book description? I made my selections of that and other such nonsense for another thirty seconds or so, and submitted the quiz, feeling like I'd wasted a good half minute of writing time. And then it gave me a result that blew me away: 

Superheroes? I never, ever, ever- are you listening? EVER- thought of myself as writing about superheroes. But when I read the description, I realized that they nailed it. My leading lady, Mida Efren, wears sealskin, not a supersuit. But she has an underlying motivation to protect those that she loves. And that motivation seeps into every scene, every interaction, every moment she shares with the reader. Mida wants nothing more than to end her people's suffering, and she'll accomplish it by any means necessary.

You know, I don't know that I fully appreciated my main character before I took this quiz. She seemed sort of selfish and inexperienced; at odds, even, with Efrenen tradition. But once I began critically examining her motivation, her reason for being, the story pretty much wrote itself. I wonder if that affects how we live our own lives in the same way. Once we uncover our deepest motivation and follow it above all else, do our own stories pretty much write themselves?

Characters that change our storylines

I have a love/hate relationship with my character's relentless ability to change my storyline. I'll map the whole thing out, write each chapter description so that it fits neatly within my story arc, and then, as I actually write the thing, suddenly my heroine doesn't like the way a character says something, and she won't stand for it. It's like being at war with myself- and I can be a defiant little shit.

There's also something wonderful that happens when your characters have finally developed enough to become their own beings. The story tightens, the interactions are more genuine, and the reality of this other world bleeds into every sentence. It's fulfilling to see their personalities take shape, but it's also uncomfortable, because it becomes a battle to reign in these fictional people just enough to keep the story moving, without stifling their self-expression and killing the flow of the book. 

I guess it comes down to this: writing is weird. I'm down to the last couple chapters of my book- almost at the finish line. I know where my characters are going and I have this vague idea of how they're going to get there. Inevitably, they'll fight back against fate like we all do here in the "real world". I can't wait to see what they do with the ending I have planned.

What is the Efrenen Sea Series about?

I keep getting questions on what my book is about. Not surprising, right? And it shouldn't be hard to describe. But I am an awkward person, as it turns out, so I describe it like this: 

It's a mermaid book. Well, not entirely. Okay so listen- it's kind of like a mermaid book in that it's about merpeople.

And then, when I get really confident, I continue with something like this: 

It's a novel about a post-apocalyptic tribe of people who live in the ocean because land is contaminated in the early 2500s. These "merfolk" are not half-fish or anything, and they don't have gills. But they do live at sea, they bind their legs and cover most of their bodies with sealskin to keep their body temperature up, and they have pretty badass armor and weaponry. There are 3 main tribes- okay, pods- and their alliances are unraveling. Meanwhile, land people are just now beginning to come out of their underground cities. And they're not dying. So what does that mean for our heroine, Mida Efren, direct descendant of Murtaugh the Rebel, and High Councilmember of the Efren pod? It means she has to step up to her leadership role in ways she never expected. 

It's a tail (eh? eh?) of death, romance, campaigns, betrothals, betrayals, and all the grace of humanity paired with its most wretched ugliness, set in an ocean world unlike any you've ever seen before.

So. That's what the Efrenen Sea series is about.