Hey there. It’s been a while. 2023 has been the sparsest year for writing updates (I at least get four, one per quarter, but this is only the third of the year) and one of the longest droughts since the last update (which was in May!). But I will admit up front: it seems odd to provide a writing update when very little writing progress has happened.

In my last update, I mentioned I felt like I was in a writing rut and I planned to prioritize writing for fun. And that’s been my focus in writing ever since. Which has meant very little concrete progress, though certainly I know nothing is wasted and some writing seasons will be like that. And, honestly, I’ve been more consistent in daily writing work than I have in a while. Sometimes, I only write drabbles or scene snippets for fifteen minutes or so; other times, I get a solid couple hours of work. A lower pressure to write has helped my creativity to regrow, and though there are certainly moments when I feel discouraged about the pace of my career as an author, I think this is the best, necessary pace for the season I’m in. With graduate school and thesis work at an all-consuming level, my fiction writing needs to be a stress-reliever, not stress-adder.

Though it’s been slow (and fun) progress, it has still been a productive second half of the year! Here’s some of what I’ve accomplished in my writing journey since May:

Whitman Court

After a season of prayer and research over the Whitman Court series, during which I considered diving into self-publication, I’ve started to pitch The Queen of Whitman Court again after a break. I still may revisit the idea of independent publishing for this series, but right now is not the right season for it. But I don’t see any harm in continuing to knock on the door of traditional publishing in the meantime. I also entered this book in Realm Maker’s Aurora Contest and it progressed into Round 2, which is encouraging and exciting. We’ll see how far it goes!

As far as the rest of the series, I haven’t done much on the other planned books besides tightening some ideas, adding to world-development for consistency, and developing characters. I’ve done a little drafting and experimenting with voice, as Melody’s first-person perspective is a little complex for other Whitman Court books where she’s not the main character. I’m trying to figure out the best balance, but I’m leaning towards writing in her stronger voice regardless of main hero. The series feels so bland without it, and it’s her role and perspective as Queen that brings some of the magic and energy of the stories to life. I may try to be a little more aggressive in working on this series in the new year, as I will have a slightly lighter workload for the Spring semester. A deep dive back into this series would be helpful, as its scope and style is so different from my other stories that it can be a little tricky to get back into the rhythm of the series.

The Myth-Keepers & Nephilim

I group my other two big fantasy series together because both have had similar engagement this year. I’ve hopped between them and Whitman Court this year, writing some scene snippets, working on some drafting, and updating world/characters a little. It’s mostly been brainstorming scenes and reworking plot.

A big and specific part of The Myth-Keepers work involved rereading the draft of the book 1 rewrite that I didn’t love. It was better than I remember, though the ending chapters are much weaker than the beginning. I initially planned to simply reoutline and make a revision map for it, but I’m moving towards reimagining the series in some bigger ways. The tension point for this series is the magic system, which is similar enough to some other big franchises that I worry the differences would go overlooked. Originality isn’t necessarily a concern—so many stories share similar elements—but as I mature as a writer and as a person, I think there are better ways to share this world and the heart of what I’m going for. Plus, as much as I want this to be a young adult series, its tone and characters slant more older middle grade, so reshuffling some of the story to tone down the darker moments feels necessary, and a major overhaul allows me to do that better. I’m on the fence whether to dive solely into this project as I continue to query Whitman Court or to table it for the future, but for now, I’m experimenting with some of the big changes. If I get a flash of inspiration, I’ll linger here for a little while.

(Also, side-note, The Myth-Keepers turns ten years old this month. Blog post coming next week to mark this milestone!)

Nephilim has also experienced a major restructuring and reshuffling, though it is considerably easier since there is no completed draft of any book in this series. Part of my reason for restructuring is to highlight the fantastical elements of the world that were getting ignored and neglected due to the original story’s setting firmly in the “real world” for a large portion of it. I also had some background characters whose stories interested me more than some of the main characters and decided that those more intriguing stories were worth focusing on. Elevating certain characters and their stories required some timeline arrangement. I’m anxious to write this series, as it has some of my favorite twists, world-building, and characters out of my entire creative canon (so to speak), but I want to take my time making this series excellent. So Whitman Court and The Myth-Keepers do take precedence, while this will remain a background / side project for the foreseeable future.

Notable Stories I’ve Enjoyed This Year

To close this writing update, I also wanted to highlight some of the stories that have inspired me this year.

Brandon Sanderson’s original Mistborn trilogy stands out as my favorite fantasy read of the year. (Check out the Reading Recap from earlier this year for my mini-reviews on each book.) Like all of Sanderson’s work, Mistborn got me excited about world-building and creative magic systems, perfect for thinking about all three of my series right now.

For movies, I haven’t watched too many new ones this year, but I did enjoy the fun and energy of The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Its color and liveliness and care for the world and characters is especially inspiring to my Whitman Court series. Another movie I enjoyed, though it’s certainly not a new release, was Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle. I watched itfor the first time and loved its beauty and artistry.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 also aired this year, and it solidified this Star Trek series as my all-time favorite. I’ve loved new Star Trek, but Strange New Worlds is so well done, with interesting character arcs, compact stories contained in each episode, and a great homage to the style and flow of the original show. In particular, the episode “Subspace Rhapsody” was BRILLIANT. It is a musical that is pretty decent as a musical, but it also plays off of musical tropes in super clever ways. I love it. (And sing the songs from it. All the time.)

Out of all mediums, video games blew me away most this year. Of course, there was the long-anticipated Breath of the Wild sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which did NOT disappoint. As a sequel, it was perfect, building off of even the smallest side quest story lines from the first game, advancing several major characters’ stories in meaningful ways, and playing off of Breath of the Wild’s expectations so well. Absolutely wonderful game.

But Tears of the Kingdom was not my favorite new game I played this year. After loving the first game and pushing my way through the tolerable second one, I finally made it to Xenoblade Chronicles 3. And I LOVED IT.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is currently my favorite video game ever. The music is incredible, the combat system fun and ideal for a casual player like me, the world-building is immersive and intriguing—and I could go on. But the characters? Out of this world amazing, and my favorite aspect of the game’s story. All six of the leads are easily my among my favorite fictional characters and have well-developed arcs within the game’s main story. I’ve never laughed out loud more than playing this game, and it’s the first video game that got me to cry. Not only has it been my favorite game this year, but it’s probably my favorite new story, period. I’m planning on writing a longer blog post on the thematic elements I especially find cool in this game, so expect more to come on this in Spring 2024.

*

Thanks for reading this long overdue writing update. How did your writing go this year? What are some of the stories you’ve enjoyed and that inspired you? I’d love to hear!

Hope everyone has a blessed holiday season!