First up on my agenda is a really quick update on the site.  If you check out the Portfolio page, you might notice that my short story, Fairy Hunting, is no longer available to read.  The reason is because (from what I can tell) it’s being considered for publication in a contest.  I don’t have all the details so I could be wrong (I’ll explain more in the future).  Anyway, Fairy Hunting is still listed but is no longer accessible.  Again, I’ll let everyone know the final verdict on it in the future.

The second thing is an addition to the Portfolio page:

Skarlit Magic is a novel I’m currently working on.  I’m planning on releasing a new chapter every week or two on a separate blog from this one, so people can read it as I’m writing it (and laugh at all of my silly errors and stuff–har har).  I’m by no means the first to come up with this idea.  The first time I heard about this concept was from Robin Rice’s Mayden Chronicles project.  She just completed her novel on her blog and that sort of gave me the extra boost and excitement to take on a similar project.  I was also informed by some friends on Twitter that there are groups devoted to these what is called “web-ficiton” (did I get that right?)  Either way, I’m extremely excited to do this.

Here’s some background information on the story….

This novel actually stems from a completely unrelated book series I would like to start writing in about ten years (yeah I know, I think ahead a lot!).  I’ve been planning said book series since 7th grade, even before I began writing Space Dog (although I was already almost completed with the Space Dog planning by this point).  All I’m saying about this set of books right now is that they’ll be Fantasy and that they feature a female protagonist.  So, in preparation for these books, I’ve been having a hard time trying to figure out what point of view I want to write in.  I got the character telling me first-person but the story telling me to go with what’s already familiar to me, third-person.  To kind of give me a feel of what each is like, I’ve been writing and planning a bunch of short stories in the last year (one of which was Fairy Hunting) and practicing different points of view.

After reading The Hunger Games, I was introduced to something I hadn’t even considered before.  First-person-present.  I kept that in the back of my mind for a few months.  Then, after reading Orwell’s 1984 this past summer, I had this strong urge to write a dystopian short story.  I remember I was at work as my head was buzzing with ideas and, like most short stories of mine, it expanded into a novel.

But no big problem.  I was actually very excited to do this because I had decided almost immediately that the protagonist would be female (to be honest, I think Suzanne Collins has a hand in that ).  This turns out to be perfect.  Not only am I continuing my experimentation into different PoVs, but I’m getting practice for writing a story that follows a girl.  Killing two birds with one stone.

As I (sort of) stated above, this novel is a reaction to The Hunger Games and 1984.  I think it’s also fair to point out that Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass might also be a contributor to the story.

I would classify Skarlit Magic as a YA Dark Fantasy (and some Urban Fantasy), Science Fiction novel.  I’m hoping to begin releasing it this April.  I’ve already gotten a decent start to it.  My goal is to always be ahead!  This is my failed NaNoWriMo entry, but I still really want to finish it.  Although bear in mind that the date is tentative.  I have some duties to Space Dog that need to be taken care of before I begin.  Sorry, he comes first.

The teaser website is already up.  Check it out here!

With that, I’ll end this post with the synopsis of the novel.

When Taren Worth is sent to the dreaded Facility for murders she did not commit, she is pushed into a world she never wished to know–a world where witches, wolves, warlocks and faeries are shunned from society, and for good reason. Fleeing for her life, Taren becomes the center of a controversial experiment that has been kept hidden for decades, coming face to face with her accusers, a mysterious boy who seems to know more about her than she does, and a dark and sinister revolution that may be less than what it seems.