So you've seen me posting progress bars for a little thing I'm calling "Embers." Maybe you've read the excerpt here on the site, or you've seen a couple of my #AuthorLifeMonth posts about it. It's been off to a really slow start, but after thinking a little harder about it, this is how just about all of my work starts. I mean I remember working on initial outlines for Ronan (possibly during class........) before Dakiti was even published. But it's coming together.
I've shared this with a few people but I don't think I've made any sort of public announcement. Embers is the first installment in a 2-part mini-series that will be known as "Ziva Payvan Legacy" (-1 for originality). Yes, it takes place after Ronan. No, it is not a direct continuation, not technically. For all intents and purposes, the three currently-existing novels are THE Ziva Payvan series, and any other materials will be...separate. That doesn't necessarily mean questions won't be answered; it just means that I designed Ronan to be an ending, and it is. But also...
Anyway, I digress. Embers: Ziva Payvan Legacy, Part 1 is in the works. But then I was playing yesterday's Friday Phrases game on Twitter, which is a fun little thing where the @FridayPhrases account posts a weekly theme and participants must post a line from their WIP (in 140 characters or less, of course) that corresponds with that theme, and include the hashtag #FP. Yesterday's FP theme was "fracture."
"My job is simply to create fractures in the infrastructure, weaken its integrity. And then when he strikes, this place will crumble." #FP
— EJ Fisch (@EJFisch) February 26, 2016
After posting that line from the work that is currently known as Embers, I realized how insanely applicable "Fracture" would be for a title. And Embers would still totally work for Part 2. Ergo, I'm considering swapping them. And by "considering" I mean my brain can't un-think it and I'll probably end up swapping them whether I like it or not.
Anyway, I anticipate that each installment will likely be Dakiti-length (80,000 - 90,000 words) but I've got the meter set to 100,000 just in case. It'll feel better to come up short than it will to go over...and over...and over...like what happened with Ronan, the monster.
So that's what I'm up to. I need to just get back into my Just Do It mode because that was insanely effective around this time a year ago.
In other news, you can still get FORGED FROM THE STARS for just $0.99! It's been an awesome couple of weeks, and G.S., Tammy, and I can't thank you all enough for the help and support you've given us. If you've read Dakiti, or Contract of Defiance, or Starshine, or any two of those, or maybe even all three, would you help us further by copying your review over? A simple copy-paste job would be just dandy.
In OTHER news, my Pinterest is actually available for public viewing now. I joke around about how everyone I know pins wedding stuff and cute craft ideas and recipes but I'm over here pinning abstract architecture, sci fi concept art, and alien makeup. (Okay, so I do pin some recipes, but most of them involve potatoes and cheese and bacon). I have my "Imagination At Work" series of boards, as well as the obvious character inspiration and writing prompt collections. So come look around, follow, etc....if you dare ;)
Okay that ended up being way longer than I anticipated but I'm actually done now.