Updates on all the books...


My brain has been having the opposite of Writer's Block recently. SO MANY BOOK IDEAS! And yet, only one brain and a busy life. I know that I've been talking about a variety of ideas over the past few months, so what stage is everything at?

Book #10

This is the time-travel romance that I was writing at the end of 2020 (and for some of 2021). It's currently on the back-burner, partly because there are some major plot issues that I need to resolve but mostly because a new book set in The Realm was screaming at me.

Realm book #5

This follows on immediately from "Invasion". I'm currently ~30% into the first draft. I know the plot; it's largely finding the time to write it that's the issue. It's hard to tell you any more about it without giving away spoilers for "Invasion".

Two more books set in The Realm

Again, hard to tell you much about these without ruining "Invasion" and Realm #5. At the moment I have good plot notes for #6; less so for #7. I might wrap up The Guardians of The Realm series with book #5. It's more likely I will finish on book #6. These are on hold, though I am adding notes to their outlines as and when they come to me.

Shiny New Thing

In my "Notes and Ideas book" I have this, dated 14th May this year:

No concrete ideas. Warrior, body inked with tattooed symbols/runes. Has magic. On a journey. Wears leather armour also bearing the same symbols, but it's actually the tattoos that protect him/give him his magic.

Most of the rest of the plot came to me while I was on holiday. See this blog post for a bit more on that. I now have pretty good plot notes for this (though not 100%) and some of it written (those scenes that I could see as clear as day). I've been trying to work on it in an afternoon, and Realm #5 in a morning, but it's ended up more one day on one book, another day on another.

Essentially, I know the main character (and some aspects of others). He is being taken across country as a prisoner. He is magical, though his powers have been curtailed. A war that had been over for a generation is now brewing again, and I know his role in it. The setting is solid; some of the characters are sorted and perhaps ~75% of the plot is in my head (and I'm trying to get it down on paper, too). I suspect this will end up a new series. 😊

Random Other Book #1

I have good ideas about this, though I haven't actually started a new notebook yet (it starts getting really serious when I do). It involves Scottish mythology, a missing relative, and magical beings. This was what I'd been stewing over two years ago!

Random Other Book #2

Again, I can see some bits of this quite clearly, though the full plot eludes me for the moment. It involves an ancient artefact that isn't what the archaeologists think it is. I know more than that about what happens, but I'm keeping it to myself for now!

Random Other Book #3

This may actually get folded into Random Other Book #1 as it's still a bit woolly. There are links to the elements, a trapped spirit, and a woman who is key to the trapped spirit. Beyond that... Yeah. Woolly.

Given that it takes me at least 6 months to write a first draft of a book, I can see I'm going to be busy for some time! My current focus is to get Realm #5 and Shiny New Thing to first draft stage. The rest will just have to wait.



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