Tabled Project

So, if you’ve done any poking around my site since yesterday, you might have noticed I’ve taken down all references to Riven.  This was SUPPOSED to be the third novella in my planned Mirus omnibus, Genesis.  I had thought I could salvage a big chunk of something I wrote on it last year (a 20k chunk) and come up with something workable for another release this fall since Red took so much longer than planned.  I believed in it enough that I got gorgeous cover art from my darling Robin.  Wrote a blurb.  Made a Goodreads listing.  And the story’s not a bad concept, but I’m just not connecting with the characters.  At all.

There are way too many stories waiting to be told for me to continue beating my head against a wall with a novella I’m just not feeling.  So I am making the executive decision to table Riven.  I don’t know if it’s for good or just for the foreseeable future.  I’m keeping the gorgeous cover art, which will, hopefully, someday fit another Mirus novel (maybe with a title change) because, OOO PRETTY.  And I do like the characters, so they may pop back up eventually.

So now what?

Well, I’m still gonna do an omnibus.  It’ll be somewhat shorter than I’d originally planned, but 68k is not an unreasonable length for a POD print edition, which I know at least a handful of people have been waiting for.  It won’t be anything new or exciting for existing Mirus fans, as it will just include the already released Forsaken By Shadow, Devil’s Eye, and Blindsight.  But it will provide a collection I can sell at a bit of a discount for new fans just finding me.  So I’ll be moving forward with the formatting of that for both e and print.

And of course, moving forward with blog tour stuff for Red.

So what the heck does that mean I’m gonna be writing?  I wish I knew.  I know there are a lot of people who want me to dive right into Revelation because they want to know what happens with Isla and Ransom.  It’s certainly under consideration as a possible project.  It just depends on who takes up residence in my brain.  I’m not a believer in waiting around for inspiration to write–except at the beginning.  I have to have that passionate obsession out of the gate or I wind up with flat characters and a lot of blah that doesn’t make me happy OR productive.

So…yeah, that’s my ROW80 update, reporting the status and not exactly setting more goals.

8 thoughts on “Tabled Project

  1. But the good thing is, you know when to shelve stuff and declare it a lost cause for the time being. You coulda tried to force it and end up with brain poop. (>_>)

      1. I had to kill a time travel book just last week, but my problem was, I wasn’t feeling the ending no matter what the muse proposed. So by mutual agreement we scrapped the project. Luckily, I already had an idea of what I wanted to do for another book with Vicky the vampire, so I’m already writing again. (^_^)

  2. And here I’m all caught up in just scrapping a character, and you go and scrap a whole book (even if temporarily!).

    But I’ve found sometimes letting one project go is a great way to release other creative energies that have been held back, so I really hope it opens the gate for other great things and wish you the best of luck!

  3. Hey, if you’re not feeling the characters, then it’s pointless to try to force it. Sometimes I have trouble feeling characters at the beginning of a story, but that usually changes later in the book. As far along as you were, though, it doesn’t seem like that will change right now.

    Are you thinking any more about the kitchen witch? That one sounded intriguing to me. You’ll decide pretty soon what you’re supposed to be doing. LIke I said before, I think Red took a lot out of you whether you realize it or not.

  4. I agree with Lauralynn, I reckon Red is a big high and you need to come down off that before you can really apply yourself to anything else. Of course, I also know that you’re allergic to taking any kind of break, so maybe just write something fun and random for a bit 😀

  5. Completely get it Kait. The characters have to be at the center. Hopefully it’ll come together at a later date so you can use some of the previous words and that gorgeous cover. Free write for a bit, see what shows up, who knows maybe a new shiny or a new passion for an existing project. Relax, someone will come knocking soon 🙂

  6. Can’t quite agree with you that you are not setting goals. You have made a decision NOT to do something. In making that decision you have created an empty space, a space which creative energies (or distracting thoughts) will rush in to fill. And that is the goal you set. Do do something new, something exciting. You just don’t know what it is yet.

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