On Switching to a “Different Kind of Project”
Okay, so the title of this post might sound a little strange. You’re probably asking yourselves “does she mean going from writing novels to writing something else, like short stories or poetry?” The answer to that is no, I’m still writing novels and will be continuing to write novels for at least the foreseeable future (and beyond because I honestly can’t imagine writing anything else, unless it’s purely for bonus or expanded lore content). So what do I mean by “switching to a different kind of project”? Well, basically, it means that I’m going to be switching to working on a different series (which also means a bit of a different kind of fantasy mixture).
Now, you’re probably wondering what this means for my dystopian fantasy series. If you’ve been following me on social media for a while, or if you know me in real life, you probably know that I’ve been working on a dystopian fantasy series known as Tales From the Outback and that I’ve already released two “companion books” for the series (which take place concurrently with the second book) and that I’m releasing A Tale of Two Bitzers (book 1 of the main part of the series) on November 13th this year. Don’t worry, that release date will not be changing. I’ve actually started writing book 2 of the main part of the series but, honestly, getting through it has been like pulling teeth (even with a full outline, which is not common for me at all). The only reason I can think of is that I might be a bit burnt out on the series. And the reason for that burn out could be a few reasons.
First off, this series tends towards being very dark (I’m talking having a content note at the beginning of every book dark). That could be one reason (especially considering all of the dark, depressing, and dystopic type things going on in the real world lately). Another possible reason could be the length of each of these books. For those who don’t know, all of the books I’ve currently written for this series are over 150k words each (for reference, the minimum word count for a novel is typically between 50-60k words). And each of the books is told from multiple first-person points of view. Both of those factors combined with the dark themes means that each of these books is a huge undertaking. To be clear, I don’t mind this undertaking...usually, but it might be wearing on me lately, especially when combined with reason number three. Reason three, these books, as much as I love them, are not easy to market (at least not for me). That could partly be because of the state of the world (and a bit of me not wanting to bring down anyone’s mood with the dark & dystopic). Yes, people are often intrigued by darker fiction, but not necessarily when they’re living in uncertain and borderline dystopic times. And part of the marketing difficulty might also be that these books don’t really have much of a “crossover” to photo or video opportunities I can realistically set up (in everything from genre, to setting, to symbolism, etc). This leads into my next point, the content, plus the length, plus the difficulty marketing makes these books a very hard sell (even being enrolled in Kindle Unlimited). And finally, I first started Children of the Outback (the first book I released set in this “world”) in 2014 (& then released it in 2019). I’ve been writing in this world (or part of the world) with all of its darkness for almost ten years, and I think I’ve just gotten tired.
Now, none of this is to say I’m giving up on this series, because I’m not. This series is still very important to me (and to a few others who I know love these characters as much as I do). I won’t be giving up on it, but I need a break from it. At this point, if I keep trying to force the draft for book 2, all I’m going to do is make more work for myself later when I have to go back through and edit and I run the risk of reduced quality and building resentment for the project (yes, I know it sounds crazy). This is not a decision I’ve made lightly or without thought (I’ve thought a lot about it over the past few weeks/months because it goes against a lot of self-publishing advice I’ve read/heard, mainly to write within one series or write closely connected books until you’re more established). But when I was watching a YouTube video last week, it was the final “nail in the coffin” when I heard the advice that “your wants and needs are important too. If you’re not enjoying writing the book, your readers won’t really enjoy reading it” (yes, I’m paraphrasing. So, it’s with a heavy heart that I officially announce that the Tales From the Outback series will be on hiatus/the backburner following the release of A Tale of Two Bitzers.
Now, you’re probably wondering what I’m going to be working on in the interim (because, let’s be real, we all know I can’t sit still or not be writing something). Well, back in the spring (when I took my first hiatus from writing TFtO Book 2) I drafted what I thought was going to be a short standalone new adult urban fantasy type book, and... only one of those criteria ended up not getting met. It’s still urban fantasy, still new adult, and still short (compared to the Tales From the Outback books). But it’s no longer a standalone. I ended up falling hard for the character (big surprise because that’s how it usually starts for me) and wanted to spend more time in their world, and ended up finding out more about their stories. So, for now, I’m going to be working on a new series tentatively called the Shadowed Curses series.
Now, I don’t have covers for any of the books yet (though I will be getting a cover for one of them made in November), so the graphic doesn’t look the best. But, this graphic gives basically what you can expect (a series structured similarly to the Tales From the Outback series). Only this time I have much more of a plan than I did for Tales From the Outback (probably because I figured out much earlier how the series will go and acknowledged much sooner that this won’t be simply a standalone). As it stands right now, I have book 2 completely drafted and have started drafting book 3 (I decided to go back to book 1 last because it takes place several years before books 2 and 3). As for the companion books, companion book 1 takes place at the same time as book 2 and companion book 2 takes place at the same time as book 3 (which is why I haven’t started on those yet). Other than that, all I can really say for now is that these books will be much “lighter” than Tales From the Outback (there will still be some darkness, but these characters aren’t fighting to survive in a dystopian world every second of every day. They actually get the chance to breathe and have hobbies and interests). Also, if you like the idea of “learnable magic” (to a degree), slow-burn romance (of course), a “hybrid” school system [for high school and college] (meaning both magic and non-magic subjects are taught), and mythical creatures being commonplace, you’re going to want to keep an eye out for more information on this series.
Also, bear in mind that I have a ton of other book ideas to write (a whole google doc full of them). But going through those could be a post in itself ;)
