My apologies, dear readers, for not having written you in so long. I know you must be delighted to hear from me once more (as your lives revolve around my blog like our planet does the sun) and I want you to know that I am just delighted to be speaking to you.
Currently, I'm working on a number of projects for this semester of my MFA. I have (what I think is going to be) my thesis, a book currently titled, For My First Trick..., about a young magician who finds out that magic is real when he's blamed for killing a wizard. Pursued by mundane forces for a murder he didn't commit, and magical ones for a book of spells the wizard gave him, Melvin must figure out how to use his new abilities, before it's too late...
I'm also reworking a piece-in-progress, a choose your own adventure novel set in my Steam and Shadows world. I'm putting aside the CYOA aspect of it for now, and transforming it into a regular old novel. If I ever get it published, I'll write the CYOA one as well, and use the first book's best-seller status to get people to buy the second.
Finally, I'm using a short story (with a long title) called "Lovisa and Hakeem Rescue a Cow From Some Goblins," as a springboard to a novel called (for the moment) Lovisa and Hakeem in the Hundred Lands. It's going well so far. I started writing it on Sunday, and on day three (today), I've reached... 3,666 words, so that's pretty good.
It's a little bit challenging, though, this novel, as I'm trying to break away from my normal pattern in the writing of it. I'm very much a plot-oriented writer, which has its pros and cons, but I'd like for this book to be character-oriented. I'm fairly certain that I understand the abstract nature of a character-oriented book (i.e. the author creates deeply complex characters, sets them loose in the world, and then follows their adventures, chronicling how they react to obstacles). This is in contrast to figuring out the plot ahead of time and then having the characters go about fulfilling their roles.
We'll see how it goes. Now, to write!
