Ok, things have finally settled for me. Phantom returned to town a little over a month ago, and we’re back to some sort of a routine.
I need that routine to do anything creative. So I’ve had the urge to write.
What’s wanting to be written right now, however, is not my book, but a series of short stories about other characters in the same town of Glint. My first story is about Vine’s aunt June, who left her ‘THE HOUSE’. She’s a sacred prostitute, working in the service of Aphrodite. And it’s the story of her last day. So far, it’s coming to me really easily and has rejuvenated my link to this place and the characters there. It also provides backstory for the book. It’s also a lot easier to commit to writing 10,000-15,000 words than to commit to 100,000- 125,000. I’ll probably continue writing the short stories as a writing exercise, but with hopes that they will make me continue on with the work of writing the BIG story.
If nothing else, I’m jazzed to write again. And considering how badly my hands hurt after a day of chatting with assholes, that’s no small feat.
I plan to publish the stories here, one by one, and then take them down at some point. When I finish about 10 stories, I’d like to collect them into a book and publish them as an .epub with Barnes and Noble. Maybe as a Kindle download too. Hopefully someone will read it. It will be a bit of a teaser for the book, or perhaps it will be published after the book, and will just give backstory.
At any rate, I’m seeing it a bit like Charles DeLint’s treatment of the characters in Newford. He’s written entire books as well as several series of short stories, all based on the same circle of characters. I’ve always loved how reading his newest was like coming back home, and so that’s what I’m shooting for with Glint.
We’ll see how it goes. 🙂