hello !! take this as a free token to ramble about your wips. what are you LOVING writing rn? who are your favourite characters? favourite pairings?
Thanks for the ask! I'm on a mini hiatus right now due to back problems. When I get back to it, though, I'm working on outlining book two of Thereafter: Voidhearts. Since it's from the perspective of Alicia Thorn, the savior of Steppeworld, I have the beefy moral center of the Exalted Heroes on my mind these days. She's a fun character in that she's driven by the constant tension between how things are and how they should be, and that "things" also include herself
I'm also salivating at the thought of exploring Alicia's backstory a bit. Her adventure as a child, if "emancipation war" is not a more apt name for the venture, is one for the books. It's a story of righteous anger, of the bonds of loyalty and friendship, of the perils and joys of young love, and of how some times you just gotta lead an army of supernaturally powered warriors to fight an evil tyrant dragon the size of a city block. It's one of those backstories that's so cool I kinda want to tell that story instead, but I will be disciplined for now.
When it comes to pairings, that's a bit of a day to day thing, though it helps that the main four are in a polycule. Granted, things are a bit strained in the old 'cule after Certain Decisions Made at the end of book one, and I am excited to prod at that particular wound. Things aren't fucked up per se, but there is a fracture to the harmony. Currently I'm trying to puzzle out how bratty fuckboy Felipe feels about all of that business, as it at least bears mentioning.
Also I don't want to spoil too much about the book I haven't written yet, but let's say there's every chance the number of people associated with the Exalted Polycule is going to go up after all is said and done in Voidhearts. Alicia's particular hangups when dealing with love and affection is going to come back into focus. I touched upon some of it in book 1, but it'll be fun to have the pov searchlight on it. Fun for me at least, Alicia will consider it more along the lines of "harrowing bullshit" or "absolute fuckshit."
I, for one, would not blame her. I'm very happy with the general plot I have ready but make no mistake, it will not be a good time for the involved. If nothing major needs to change, we're looking at some sort of mix between The Left Hand Of Darkness and the 2013 movie Gravity, with a touch of what I've come to think of as a Pinch of Peebs, which is to say some assumptions are going to be challenged and some aspects of the status quo will be kickflipped into oblivion. It's how I like to do it.
