Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Summer of Sequels and Outlines

This summer is going to be the summer of sequels. First I want to get the rest of this ebook experiment out of my way, so the top goals relate to that:

Goal 1 - Rewrite and expand A Test of Freedom, which is the sequel to Wife of Freedom.

Shadow Goal 1a - increase marketing efforts. This is a "shadow goal" because I won't be setting any daily goals in the dare for it, and I won't give myself points for it.

Shadow Goal 1b - Edit my super-humongous YA fantasy novel to publish as a part of the eBook Experiment in fall. This is a shadow goal because I may not do this seriously until fall. But I want to at least LOOK at it this summer.

Goal 2 - Outline outline outline. I have so many projects that have backed up over the years, AND so many new ideas, I'm never going to get on top of them if I don't have some of them better nailed down. Even though I thought I had some good prep work done on the current WIP, part of my problem was holes in that. So here are the sub-goals:

Goal 2a - Outline and possibly write two or three of Mick and Casey novellas. I definitely want to post the ghost story on Daring Adventure Stories for Halloween. And the other three would fit thematically as a collection under a very cool title. I haven't decided yet whether this will be part of the eBook Experiment yet - novellas are hard to find traditional publishers for, but I'll probably look.

Goal 2b - Outline League of Freedom - the third and final book in the freedom trilogy. I have a draft which is ... readable. It also zooms all over the place from high tension thriller, to drawing room comedy, sometimes in the same scene.

Goal 2c - Outline "The Unnamed Serial" This thing is haunting me. Although the stories will be primarily mystery driven, they may fit best in sf and fantasy. It's not steampunk (which is a very mystery-friendly genre) but I might call it "Jazzpunk" as it is early Jazz Age (and early or pre-golden age of mystery too). And I'm not sure these won't end up regular novels, as opposed to the series of novellas I originally imagined. But it needs serious planning and world building.

Goal 2d - Work on outlines for future books for both the Man Who series and Mick and Casey. This may be a shadow goal, but I'm feeling ambitious on the outlining front.

I'll be concentrating on the outlining goals for this next two weeks. I'll post the specific daily targets tomorrow.

3 comments:

Laura S. said...

Wow, you have a very busy summer ahead! Good for you, though. You;ve inspired me to make a list of my summer writing goals! Thanks for the boost. :)

Hart Johnson said...

Always helps to have a plan, ne? Good luck with meeting your goals! I need to do this myself very soon, as I've just had my commitment pile stacked upon!

The Daring Novelist said...

Laura: I was thinking about your writing exercises and writing up a post about the first one - about visualizing your career. Short term AND long term goals.

Watery Tart: Thanks! Yeah watching that pile grow can motivate you to get on the stick in terms of planning. (Or just make you hide under your desk.)