Coming Soon...

[naomi_jay]

So I've got a couple of ideas in mind for my next writing project. I really want to go back to Night and Chaos, which started life last year as a novella, but now feels more like a novel. It's a dark urban fantasy - the darkest thing I've written, I think, and having re-read the 9k I wrote last year recently, I'm keen to dive back in.

And I'm halfway through a novella I'd quite like to submit to Harlequin's Nocturne Bites line once it's finished and polished up. I love short story writing, and I think it's a great exercise for any writer - if you learn to craft a short story properly, it will show in your novels. Your prose is tighter, and your pacing is better. You don't have time to arse around in short stories, so every word counts and you quickly learn to pick your words for maximum effect. You learn to eliminate the "telling, not showing" problem, and you get used to working to specific word counts and making best use of them. Seriously, I could go on about this subject all day if you let me. But anyway...

Really, the priority for me right now is SILVER KISS and it's sequels. I had a long chat with chaostheorya couple of nights ago about the direction I want the sequels to go in, as well as the overarcing themes of the series (tentatively called Wolf City at this point). One of the themes that kept cropping up, both in Wolf Strap and SILVER KISS is the idea that fertility rates are low amongst werewolves. The obvious problem with this is that, say your wolves are only producing one child per couple, your population is halving with every generation, and you're on the fast-track to extinction. Not great.

I talked this problem over with both my writers' group and chaostheory, and brainstormed some scenarios that will tie in nicely to a plot strand of the second book (tentatively called Bad Dogs). It does mean I have to do some in-depth research on the causes of fertility problems, which I imagine will make my brain hurt. But I'm determined to do this idea justice, even if it requires learning science, and then trashing what I've learned and mixing it up with Eastern European werewolf folklore, a bit of stuff I'm just making the hell up, and maybe some cannibalism too.*

*I'm joking about the cannibalism.**

**Or am I?

I know, I know, you shouldn't read your own reviews. But if people keep posting nice reviews, how am I supposed to help myself?

Ayla gave up a lot to be a lesbian, like her entire family ... But when a child, a member of her family pack, is killed she and her partner Shannon head back to her childhood home. Its clear that things have changed since she left, but how much have they changed in this city where the human and wolves used to live in peace? The only flaw in "Wolf Strap" is that it's too short. The plot and setting could have held a full novel and while the pacing doesn't feel rushed it's hard not to want more of everything Clark has to offer.

Comments

[dwg.livejournal.com]

Aww, that review is ace. That reader will be so thrilled to find out about SILVER KISS.

And goddamn, every story needs some cannibalism at some point.

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

^_^ Thanks, I hope so!

Cannibalism is pretty much why I went into writing. That and the jet-set lifestyle of non-stop gay hardcore sex.

No wait, that's not my life. That's the plot of Exquisite Corpses.

[pervertatoid.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna be honest...I've had a bit too much rum already (though, I do plan on having much more before the night is through), so I didn't actually READ much of this. I just wanted to comment to say...

I miss you. Or...whatever one does to someone with whom they've never really conversed, save for via comments and posts on Livejournal. You're the greatest! :D

And damnit, I'm not that drunk! I mean, look at the lack of typos! ;) Haha...okay, that means nothing...but I'm still telling the truth. :D

You rock, chica.

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

You're the greatest too! You should come to England and we could get drunk together :) (Or not drunk).

[pervertatoid.livejournal.com]

Well, I definitely appreciate the offer! One of these days, when I start having money again, and can therefore afford to do something cool like visit England, I'll take you up on it! :D

...and we'd better do more than just get drunk together - I wanna see England, too! I love traveling, but enjoy not being all "touristy" and sticking out like a sore thumb...show me England!! ;)

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

^-^ It's a deal!

[pervertatoid.livejournal.com]

Fantastic. I will definitely be upholding it one of these days!