Ending Ahoy!

Writing for me is often in fits and spurts. Unless I have a strong deadline or goal, I get easily distracted. This last year has been rich for distractions, with home repairs, misbehaving child visitors, and health crises adding their extra to the overload.

Despite that, I reached the ending of that space gothic series. I’m revising the whole series for my September collection. I’m hoping for another story before the first of the month, too. I do not have a backlog prepared for this year’s NaNo.

How to End it

Jupiter’s great red spot, by NASA Godfard Space center, Attributed under Creative Commons 2.0

I started writing a series, told in a few short pieces of a thousand words each. I wanted to mix genres a little, taking the old gothics like Jane Eyre and changing the isolated and desolate moor to empty space, but keeping fear and anxiety. Now since gothic romances have a relatively helpless heroine as a poor governess or pawn of the male lead and/or villain, I knew that part would have to be subverted rapidly.

So I created my setting, an isolated space station far from help, a mysterious death, reasons for fear and anxiety, and a small cast with unstable relationships. Was the suicide cabin fever or something else?

Thing is, my two flash story has hit four and could get much bigger if I’m not careful. I’ve always known who and why they precipitated things but how to bring a conclusion? I’m weighing every bit as I want the finale to be no longer than the first. I’m not exactly having block, but struggling with how to stage the resolution and ending for the central mysteries.

Or I could say hang it all and have aliens arrive and shoot the villain…

But that’s cheating.

It’s Been Quiet Because…

I’ve been working on finishing my third collection of short fiction. I’m proud of this one, as it includes some tales I’m particularly fond of. One has been kicking around in revision all year.  This time I’ve included more fantasy that is a little darker, and my next collection will have more SF.

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Necklace of Lapis collection

Edge of Change and Ruin

Sometimes the world turns a little darker than before, leaving a hunter chasing dread hounds through the night, through blood and death and places never seen. A young woman discovers that some tyrants are more benevolent than others that provide pretty ribbons. A dark fey flees the slaughter of her family, but she lacks the magical power of her people for her vengeance.

In these tales, lofty plans do not always lead to wealth and world power, they may only lead to ruin.

 

 

 

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Earlier collections:

Necklace of Amber

Necklace of Garnet