Hi everybody. I mentioned a short while ago that I would come back to you with new premises and updates on the current stories.
Let’s get the updates out of the way. The stories I’ve already written are still with my proofreader, whom I’ll stick with a cattle prod this weekend to get him reading and giving me the feedback I so desperately need, so I can start working on second drafts and possibly posting the stories (sadly, don’t have many proofreaders or beta readers at the moment, though I’m in the process of roping a few more people in). I’m also thinking of getting some custom artwork made for them, to enhance the stories with a couple of visuals–well, that and the fact that I need very few excuses to commission more stuff from my go-to artist, Biddoodles. It might cost me money, but the quality is phenomenal and I just dig her style.
Three of the stories that were on the One-Shot page are now in bold to mark them as “in progress,” and they are:
- Crows
- The Song
- The Beast
Detective George & the Dragon and Cooking up Trouble need more love on the polls. But to just have those two there would be a bit boring so here are three new premises, 2 of which are from settings that might be familiar with some of the usual The Mental Attic fiction readers, but they act as prequels or backstories to the work I’m doing on those worlds.
Here they are: Broken Clock, a Margot Vance adventure. Training Day, a Leona Mercer & Summersalt story. And lastly, Long Live the King, a fantasy story beginning at the end of the quest!
| Title: | Broken Clock |
| Genre | Urban Fantasy (Urban Arcana) |
| Premise |
Before she became a Fixer, Margot Vance was an apprentice, a scared and scarred girl with too much power and very little control, working under her mentor, Horace Carmichael, a harsh but fair instructor in the ways of “fixing” things.
But on a mugging investigation, he vanishes, leaving only a bloody trail behind. They’ve had countless of these cases in the past year, so what makes this one different? Or maybe this is a test or? But what if he’s really in trouble? Only one way to find out. |
| Title: | Training Day |
| Genre | Science-Fantasy (Summersalt) |
| Premise | Leona Mercer has been around for a long time, way before the town became Summersalt, and in all these centuries she’s never needed anyone’s help to do her job, least of all a couple of rookies, no matter how skilled or mutated they might be. But the higher-ups don’t like Leona’s methods, least of all when she’s on the trail of a dangerous Black Salt cartel.
Then again, the kid could be useful, and it’s been a long time since anyone’s been at Leona’s fighting level…maybe it wouldn’t hurt to bring them along? |
| Title: | Long Live the King |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Premise | They’re here, on the other side of the door, young, powerful and lusting for the Dark Lord’s blood, each with a different reason, some for glory and others for revenge.
But can they go through with it? Can they vanquish the evil and bring their adventure to an end? But what if she’s right and killing her is the worst mistake they can ever make? Can they live with their actions if she’s not lying? |
But that’s not all. For next week I have a couple of writing guides in the works, the first one being on one of my pet peeves in storytelling, the dreaded and often abused In Medias Res, where the stories don’t start at the beginning but somewhere in the middle and then you spend time catching up via flashbacks. Truly hate it, and I’ll explain why!
As always, here’s the poll for the new stories, or you can go directly to the one-shots page and vote for them there!
I hope that “Broken Clock” wins 😀