Writing Update: 25-04-25

Change: +6,782

Year to date: 80, 948

Word count is cumulative for the past two weeks. This is in part due to real-life work, which dumped a couple of unpleasant twelve-hour days on me (with a few more on the horizon). Though disappointingly below the usual writing target, it's actually been a fairly productive pair of weeks. I polished off and posted Who Made the Lamb, and it's landed fairly well, receiving some very encouraging feedback (and criticism, too). I tackled the covers for Constant, in anticipation of creating ePub versions of the story over the next week or two (with the 'femme fatale' series cover the clear winner). And finally, I've returned to writing Constant.

I've gained a new appreciation for those writers out there switching between two or three projects at a time. I'm finding it very difficult, to be honest, to switch modes likes that. My heart's still into Lamb right now, into its characters and where I hope to achieve with the story. I’ve got this ‘date night’ scene with Alex’s friend Luca, living at that back of mind right now. But I also feel guilty about leaving Constant to languish for so long.

As part of that process, I went back to the start of (what's now called) Book 5, picking it up from the dream of Persephone, through to the encounter with Darius, to get back into the style of writing and first person voice. This inevitably led to some soft-touch revision, mostly trimming it back (and thus, the lower word count for the week). Having reached Darius, I'm considering a deeper rewrite of the scene. I should have some solid content to share by the end of next week.

Finally, does anyone have any experience with Fictionpress? I posted Who Made the Lamb there. I never published to that site previously, because its guidelines state no explicit content and Constant definitely has some of that. At first, the site glitched and the story appeared, then disappeared, then returned. Now it's up. I've received feedback--half a dozen PMs and a few reviews--most of it spam offers to illustrate the story by digital artists who clearly didn’t read the story in any detail.

I find myself somewhat bemused. A decade ago, Fictionpress launched Sarah Maas's--of romantasy fame--career. But my first experience there has been less than positive. Obviously, it might just be that my story's a poor fit for the site. But I wonder if the place is now a shadow of its former self. And if so - why, and where are people posting and reading generalist online fiction these days?

Anyway, that’s it for me today! I should push out the changes to the Patreon this weekend: no changes for those currently on a tier, but otherwise I’ll be consolidating everything into a single all-inclusive £4 tier for those joining in the future.

Have a great week.