I have long been a mono-tasker. In the past, I’ve stopped writing for months if I’m editing a long project only to return to the craft unpracticed. Like weightlifting, I need to keep at it, or my gains will go away. This month I managed to balance multiple projects at the same time and was so much more productive for it.

The Autobiography of M

I heard back from my editor about my horror novel The Autobiography of M. It’ll need some work, but not nearly as much as I feared. The biggest part will be expanding it. He says it needs another 12,000-15,000 words (it currently sits at 41,000). It’s structured as a book inside a book, and he feels the outer narrative needs more substance.

There are a lot of other smaller things that need fixing, especially several characters that require fleshing out, but it should be doable. I’m waiting to get his markups and then I’ll begin editing.

Short Stories

Last month, I mentioned I had finished the rough draft of a horror story entitled “A Clarion in the Dark”. Upon editing it, I discovered it was decent, but it just didn’t stand out to me. I felt like I’d written this story before.

It made me realize I was in a rut. And that rut was horror. For almost two years now, all my stories have been horror or weird fiction. I decided branch out, but where? Changing genres was terrifying, but something I needed to do.

The idea jumped out at me like most stories do. The result was “The Dunersnoot”. It is an urban fantasy story with bizarro elements, centered around Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Those who have seen my “What I Read” posts know that I’m not a fan of urban fantasy. But the genre proved to be the perfect vehicle for the story I had to tell. It focuses on a cause I’m passionate about: the damage that the gentrification of Capitol Hill is doing to the once wonderfully weird neighborhood.

I plan to start editing it next week. It didn’t quite turn out how I wanted it to (more reaction than action), but that’s why I have a red pen.

Zonk

In my mid-twenties, I wrote three interconnected surrealist novels that I called the Capitol Hill Trilogy (yes, I’ve written a lot about that neighborhood). The first one was called Snap (click here for a synopsis) and received three rejections from different publishers. It had numerous problems, so I decided to shelve it.

The second book, however, I think has a chance. It’s called Zonk. Once I finish editing The Autobiography of M, I hope to take a crack at it. Last week, I spent a day organizing the copious notes I made all those years ago and saw its potential.

I am more excited about this project than any other in a long time. There is a lot of rewriting ahead of me—whole swaths of text need replacing—but I know exactly what changes to make. Very eager to begin!

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Keep an eye out. I have a number of posts planned for November.

Tchau,

Zé