Some of you are aware that I am working on a Steampunk, Alt-History story which I plan to become a series – Kit Freestone and the Dragon Key. I am doing this in episodes to be published on the new Amazon KDP Vella platform. Because it is an “alternate” history (or perhaps a parallel world, I find myself researching a lot of things…for example, my story is set in 1839 – Daguerrotype technology had only just been invented so in my alternate world, they are invented a year earlier. I find myself googling old maps and searching for information such as how long the ferry ride is from New York to Connecticut.
And on days like today, one rabbit hole reminded me about something I meant to add to one of the other stories I am working on, so I spent a couple of hours writing on a story called “Shangri La” which I am not sure whether it will be a short story or a novel, yet – it is definitely science fiction, with a bit of humor.
I also wrote a bit more in another story-that-might-become-a-novel that has the working title “Into the Marbled Sky” – which is set in San Francisco in the 1980’s and is a fantasy, coming-of-age mystery. I shall say no more about it, other than something that I was writing about in “Shangri La” reminded me that I had had a dream with a character from “Marbled Sky” in it, and wanted to capture that scene in the story. And so that is how I flittered around in my writing today (in between answering phones, zooming and doing household chores).
A friend had asked me about my writing “process” and so this post is my answer to her, because it is pretty typical of how I go about writing. Maybe in a few days, I’ll talk about how I outline a story arc – which I do sometimes, and sometimes, I just let the story flow. I suppose it is a good thing I am a Gemini, since I tend to do everything at least two different ways…and always looking for new angles.
