RECENT WRITING ACTIVITY AND NEW MAGIC PROJECT
Posted on February 15, 2016
Working my way through a beta read of Keith Robinson's new book, Unicorn Hunters. Keith is doing the same for my book, We Kill Humans. I learn a lot from editing someone else and getting critical feedback on my own work. Cool thing about this is that we finished our books within a week of each other and have both set March 16th as our release date. It feels nice to be working alongside such a creative and talented writer. It really is a good motivator to be doing the writing thing with another author who is equally prolific and who desires to put out quality books.
My mind is always eager to hatch new plans. I never ignore this vital part of writing. As a mental exercise the other night, I went onto amazon.com and started typing in possible story titles. I do this either before or at the start of a project to make sure my title hasn't already been used by another author.
I wanted my story to be about a hero who has hardships heaped on him, and all his actions make things worse until they suddenly don't. He begins to get some heroic traction and his failures wind up meandering into outright successes, albeit quirky and roundabout tallies in the win column.
I tried That's Unfortunate. This brought up A Series of Unfortunate Events. Too similar to a big property for my tastes.
I tried So Not Happening and that brought up two titles already out there with that name.
I found nothing for my third attempt: So Not My Millennium. I created a folder on my computer of the title and placed a document in it. Not wanting it to be blank, I spent a few minutes writing a quick summary of intent and wrote a few lines of the first chapter. I think this has a lot of potential. My guess is it will get put on the schedule after I write the third volume of my zombie series, which has had some nice reviews and sales recently.
So Not My Millennium intent summary*
One Woodrow Tiddlewunk, Woody to his friends, is a misfit. In a world where magic has resurfaced, he has zero aptitude for it. While others embrace spellcasting and hobnob with the surprising return of every magical species imaginable, Woody is one of the Nils, a class consisting of the few who can't wield magic no matter how rudimentary.
But the return of magic brings with it conflict. Not all the magical denizens who've come back want to share Earth with the mortals who'd clumsily driven them away. In fact, quite a few have banded together for the express purpose of bringing about mankind's extinction. But those chaps are keeping everything all rather hush-hush.
Sadly, Woody finds himself in the crosshairs when he stumbles upon the nasty conspiracy to do in his kind. Can a guy who can't even manage a simple card trick hold the salvation of all of humanity up his merely ordinary, no-tricks-here, sleeve?
Chapter 1
I believe the witch next door is subletting her condo to a dragon. I've got no concrete proof, mind you, but the shared wall between our two units always gives off a lot of heat and there's the faint hint of brimstone that lingers in the air by her door.
Please don't think poorly of me for calling my fellow tenant a witch. She really is. Broom, pointy hat, exceptional in the dark arts and all that. She's also pretty easy to look at, which is why I haven't reported her tenant transgression.
*An intent summary is a synopsis that gets me started on a project but not one I am beholden to. It can deviate and evolve to the narrative's needs.