What're you all writing?

[Coco82]

If you want to tell your plot you can do that, but I was interested in what kind of genres are you writing. Maybe it could be an ongoing thread.

Mine (as I've mentioned previously) is a dram about a guy in Golden Age Hollywood (who's a director) and his various friends and other relationships. It kind of has a melodramatic feel, but in a good way.


So let's share.

[Galoot]

I'm working on a "Psychic vs. Psycho Thriller." What's crazy is that for 30 years I would have sworn up and down my first novel would be hard SF.

It looks like I'll have to get a pen name. Maybe something French... G. A'loot?

[CaitlinK18]

I'm working on a supernatural mystery and an urban fantasy novel, as well as co-writing a fantasy/mystery/romance set in London.

[alaskamatt17]

I write adventure. Fantasy and science fiction mostly, with a tendency toward the former.

I am currently working on the second novel in a soft sci-fi trilogy about seven people stranded on a world ruled by sentient dinosaurs. It sounds absurd in synopsis, so I won't even try to convey a sense of the plot here.

[azbikergirl]

Fantasy, currently. I also like Science Fiction. Current story is about a guy trying to avoid destiny and finding out that destiny isn't what he'd thought. It's a romp with a philosophical twist.

[Julian Black]

I'm working on a historical urban fantasy set in Restoration London.

I have several ideas for works of historical fantasy, and see them as an interlinked series of books--yet each one could stand alone. Even as I am working on the first one, I'm also picking up bits and pieces of information to use in subsequent novels.

I also have a character who is demanding that I write him into a work of present-day urban fantasy, and while he and his story are fascinating he's also very difficult to work with. I have a broad story arc, and a few supporting characters, but there needs to be a larger purpose to the story or he will be wasted. I haven't found that yet, but I keep making notes on his story on 3x5 cards and tossing them in a box with his name on it. Eventually I will figure out exactly what I'm supposed to do with that story, and write it...

[pepperlandgirl]

1) Historical, but not biographical, about S.T. Coleridge and William Wordsworth and centered around the time Lyrical Ballads was published. I'm convinced they were passionately, but obviously secretly, in love.
1a) Also a play based on the same premise
2) Erotic Thriller/Suspense, which is a sequel to my current finished MS "Mad World."
3) Historical erotica, also a sequel to my first published novel (Release TBA)
4) Category romance. Just to see if I can do it.
5) Two mystery/suspense novels.

[Zane Curtis]

When I've finished my novel, it will either fantasy, science fiction, or what I what I guess you might call magical realism or slipstream. I won't know for sure until I"m a lot further into it than I am now.

[Fractured_Chaos]

Horror.

Supernatural, I guess. There are demons, angels, "shadows", and the like.

Also there is a love interest. Of sorts. And the MC is a serial killer. But he's also a good guy. There's a very valid reason he's going around killing random people.

[E.G. Gammon]

My main WIP is hard to describe or put into just one category/genre. It's a story I've been working on for over seven years. It was originally a soap opera until recently, when I decided I would convert it into a novel series. I call it "The Soap Novel Series" on the internet, but that's not its real title. The only description I am giving out at the moment is this:

"'THE SOAP NOVEL SERIES' explores the lives of the inhabitants of a small town, infamous for its supernatural occurences, after a serial killer suddenly emerges."

The story will unfold over seven novels, and will have those two umbrella stories (the supernatural and the serial killer mystery), 80+ characters (sounds like a lot but not all of them are introduced in the first book, others come along later, and obviously if there is a serial killer, characters must die), and all of the characters' subplots and how they work into the two umbrella stories.

So, I don't really know what genre it is. There's the supernatural stuff, the soapy/drama stuff, the serial killer "mystery," and a lot that's in between. But, that's what I'm currently working on.

[zornhau]

Swords and Sorcery, with an emphasis on the Swords. Much smiting! Probably also falls into the Military SF sub-genre. Baen is one of my target markets.

[veinglory]

I am writing an erotic romance in an urban fantasy setting (magic, elves etc).

[MarkEsq]

I have just finished a fairly light-hearted mystery (does that make it a "cozy"?!) about an English barrister who gets drawn into defending a nun accused of murder in rural Texas. It's sitting with an agent now, so fingers crossed.

Because my fingers are crossed writing is hard but I have just started the next in the series, where my barrister defends a tramp wrongly accused of killing an investigative reporter.

Good thread, it's fun to see what people are working on!

[underthecity]

Am I allowed to post in here? ;) I write nonfiction local history (http://www.allensedge.com/cincinnatisubway.html). I have two published books and am working on my third (http://www.allensedge.com/prohibition.html). I put an excerpt from my WIP on the AW Idol Competition, which you can see on the first page of entries.

underthecity

[Torin]

Working on the third book in a YA series with a touch of the paranormal. The first book was a murder mystery/ghost story and I'm trying to keep the psychic/paranorml flavour in the series. :)

[Eowen]

Fantasy/adventure, mainly as the background for the story I really want to tell, which is about one of the main characters coming to terms with his ability to do magic. He used to hunt wizards for a living, by the time the story ends, he's going to become a wizard. The writing is utter crap right now, but I'm still on the first draft. And utter crap is still better than all the stuff I gave up on a chapter and a half into, because there was no story worth telling.

There's also fragments of a space opera floating around in my head. I'm still waiting to find the main story that ties them together so I can write it down.

Eowen

[TashaGoddard]

Thriller/suspense/police procedural - it may lean one way or another by the end, who can tell?!
Also have bits and bobs on an urban fantasy, which has recently started trying to take over.
There's also a bit of lit fic that seems to want to get out, but I'm not letting it at the moment. Not where my ambitions lie, and I'm fairly certain it's also not where my skills lie!

[aplath]

I'm writing a story about disfunctional relationships set in the Dark Ages. There's some fantasy elements in it but they are not central to the plot.

Andreas

[Azure Skye]

As of right now, a middle-grade mystery/ghost story.

[bestseller]

Working on several at one time. A romance novel that's infront of Time Warner, a YA fantasy, an inspirational that's also before another publisher, and several children's books. I recently made a list of all the WIPs I started/drafted - there were 60 in all and I'm going down the list, one-by-one and completing them. To-date, 20 completed and I keep adding to the list.

[Roger J Carlson]

My first novel was YA Science Fiction. It's still not published, but I'm trying. My WIP is a Fantasy for the adult market and I'm currently revising it.

I'm also working on a series of YA short mysteries. The protagonists are two girls who solve mysteries and debunk paranormal phenomena at the same time. (The mysteries all in some way involve the paranormal.)

Should I be using different pen names for these different genres?

[Nateskate]

I'm working on an Epic Fantasy that brings together beings from two realms in a cosmic chess match where the fate of a world is at stake.

The evil ethereal beings were cast out of their own realm as a result of a failed civil war in which they are defeated by the virtuous. Now, doomed to this lesser planet, they have found themselves robbed of their powers, by a secret force which is tied to the virtue of the creatures native to that world.

Realizing they can regain power through the corruption of the planet's natives, they turn all of their efforts to that end.

To complicate matters, there is a second civil war where the Virtuous ethereal beings are divided again, changing the balance of power. If the two evil factions join together, they will now have the power to return and take back their former realm.

But in order to acquire full power, they must destroy every inhabitant of the world where they are cast aways.

The Virtuous ethereal beings are fighting for these inhabitants while the Evil fight against them.

Ah, but this is too simple! There is a rule that complicates matters further. The Virtuous can't interfere in the decisions of the the ones they are trying to protect. They can't stop them from becoming fools that empower their real enemies destroy them, or even explain the peril they are in. However, the bad guys have no hold's barred. They can appear metaphorically as angels of light, to convince these natives that they are really the good guys.

You'll have to buy the book if you want to know the rest. But this is only skimming the beautiful surface of a very complex series. (Hopefully to be found in a bookstore near you)

Copywritten by Nateskate. Agent inquiries always welcome. (Unless you are a POD or worse)

[katiemac]

Wow, there's a lot of fantasy in here.

As for me, I really have no clue about what the heck it is I'm penning. Genre? What's that?!

[maestrowork]

Either a saga set against historical backdrop, or a totally delusional exercise of self-indulgence. Take your pick.

[Lenora Rose]

The one making the rounds with agents is a contemporary fantasy, more on the side of what Charles De Lint calls Mythic Fiction. The main character is loosely related to stories about phoenixes (phoeni?) and firebirds, and Faerie gets its hooks in on the side.

The one in progress is an imaginary-world fantasy, set on a series of tropical islands. About two generations back, the usual colonist/native clash happened, but a combination of magic and divine intervention led to a rather different result. For the moment, things are in balance - but there wouldn't be a story f it stayed that way for long. The natives, in this case, are selkies.

The one I was supposed working on before that took over (And which I'll return to eventually, probably in October) is a more standard fantasy - medieval setting, Snow White, and dragons - I mentioned in another topic.

[Fictionalizer]

I'm working on three books at once which are erotic, psychological/medical, suspense/thriller fictionalizations. New genre? ;)

[Mistook]

I'm also writing urban fantasy. Glad to see it's becoming more popular around here.

[johnnycannuk]

I'm not writing fantasy. ;)

I have two active things on the go right now:

1. A short story about a televangalist that dies onstage and meets God to explain his life and why he should get into heaven. I would call this short speculative fiction, with a little humour and philosophical twists.

2. My first novel WIP is a yet untitled story of a photojournalist that must escape from Southern Sudan with pictures of an atrocity committed by UN peacekeepers. He is being chased by the UN troops, rebel groups and the troops of fundementalist Islamic regime of Sudan. Lots of twists and turns in the plot to a nice climax involving....well, you'll have to wait for that ;). I would characterize this as a suspense, chase, character-driven book with a few sci-fi and speculative fiction overtones.

That's what's on the go. I have a few other sci-fi ideas rolling around the noggin and one story submitted to Strange Horizons.

Mostly I like crossover genres like sci-fi mystery, or action-based speculative fiction (kind of similar to Fictionalizer above).

And all written with a style reminicent of Kerouac and Hunter S. Thompson. Oh and Phillip K. Dick too (I'm trying, anyway :) )

Mike

[SJB]

It's nifty seeing what everyone is writing. I'm writing:

a novel set in modern NZ, centred around a university Maaori class and the diverse individuals who attend it, all for quite different reasons;
a novel (1st person) from the perspective of the very self-absorbed wife of a Greek lecturer. I love her;
a speculative short story set in a law firm (it would be fantasy if anyone other than I or Margaret Atwood were writing it ;)); and
a play about (what else?) writing.
It's all bosh.

[alaskamatt17]

I've found that mixed genres are more fun to write, and I don't think I'll go back to pure fantasy any time soon. My project at the moment (the dinosaur one) is definitely blended between sci-fi and fantasy, which elements of the former appearing more frequently than of the latter, but I don't think I could ever get it published as a "fantasy" novel, because so much of it is based ins hard science.

[Dawno]

I'm not really sure yet. I lost my mother in January and my youngest child will graduate from high school this summer. Unsurprisingly I had all this grief/anexiety building up and decided to see if I could relieve some of it by writing...but I didn't write about me and my situation. Instead, I put my feelings into a completely different context and it's looking like it might be a murder mystery. It just doesn't matter right now, the important thing is just get the BIC time in as much as possible. It's gonna end up in the "first novel" drawer (or bonfire) anyway.

[alaskamatt17]

That does sound like a tough time to write through. I haven't had any crises yet that I've had to endure while still maintaining my writing career (mainly because said "career" doesn't exist yet).

You have my sympathies, Dawno.

[sgtsdaughter]

Dawno,

That's how I got my first novel done too . . . anxiety and grief release. My novel started out as a love story, and it quickly changed genres . . . now it's concretely lit fiction with a murder/psycho family sub plot. I think that letting the story do its own thing is what made the process so much fun.

[hoyateach]

A novel (first in a series) about teachers and kids at school for children with behavior disorders, based partly on my own experiences as a 4th grade teacher at such a school.

In the hands of a freelance editor now, will hopefully find an agent soon. *fingers crossed*

[mistri]

I'm about to start editing my fantasy novel. It's set inside a city for the most part, so it's sort of urban fantasy - but it's not contemporary. It's more like a medieval-esque urban fantasy.

The next book I'm about to start writing (well, finish off actually, as I'm already half-way through it) is a more epic fantasy.

Yes, I write mostly fantasy :)

[BradyH1861]

I am currently working on three projects in bits and pieces. (see Binge Writing Thread). One is my novel about the plot to burn New York City in 1864. The second is a story of sorts about a day in the life of a fireman. (I do not know exactly where I am going with that one though) And the second is a collection of essays on how our Constitution has been perverted by the government, thus chipping away at our natural born rights.

I doubt I'll finish one of them, much less all three.

Brady H.

[PattiTheWicked]

I've got two works in progress right now, and I tend to waffle between the two, depending on my mood.

Winter's Tides is the second book in a YA trilogy about three witch families. The first book in the series, Summer's Ashes, is in review with a couple of publishers, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one. If I can sell the first one, it should make it that much easier to sell Book 2 when it's done.

My other work in progress is an as-yet unnamed paranormal romance, set in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. My MC is a ghost hunter, who manages to buy a haunted house of her own. Much mystery and ghostly derring-do ensues, and of course she falls for the sexy neighbor who has, strangely, evolved into looking a bit like Clive Owen.

I mentioned this to a friend of mine who replied, "Well, if he looks like Clive Owen, writing him should be easy -- he doesn't even have to speak."

[Sarita]

My WIP is historical fiction, with a metaphysical twist. Sounds like a cocktail.

[johnnycannuk]

A novel (first in a series) about teachers and kids at school for children with behavior disorders, based partly on my own experiences as a 4th grade teacher at such a school.

In the hands of a freelance editor now, will hopefully find an agent soon. *fingers crossed*

hoyateach,

If you need beta reader or a source for research material for this, drop me a line. I worked for 6 years in residential care facility for children 6 to 12 years old with the top 2% of behaviour disorders in North America - and I literally have the scars to prove it!

These kids were ADD, ADHD, Oppostional-Defiance Disorder, some with developmental delays or other mental health issues (one little girl was on the brink of fragmenting into Multiple Personality Disorder...:( ). Every kid was either physically, mentally or seually abused - sometime all three.


I'm sure I could give you some insight or we could just exchange "war stories", good or bad, for some of your future work.

Let me know.

Mike

[Elincoln]

At the moment, book one of a Fantasy (Sword and Sorcery) trilogy, but I'm also working on a few short stories for some contests. My work ranges from children's literature, dark fantasy, magical realism, to some scifi. The book currently being worked on deals with a young girl's struggle to find her place in her society before someone else (a.k.a. the bad guys) find her.

[Fresie]

My WIP is historical fiction, with a metaphysical twist. Sounds like a cocktail.

Sounds really cool to me!

Me, I'm puzzled at the moment. I mean, I've been working on this World War II novel -- a serious WIP, researched to death and, you know... serious. And very hard to write, too. By the end, I had to force it out and started looking for excuses not to work on it. :Hammer: So I decided to write something not so serious to distract myself and started a contemporary romance, just to see if I could do a romance. And it turned out to be so easy, the story just writes itself! It all just comes out of my head right onto the page!

Now I'm puzzled: is it because romances are easier to write or is it because I should be writing romances, not war history? What do you think? :confused:

PS (Yes, and I also have this work-of-my-life on the back burner, a metaphysical fantasy, but I love the idea so much I'd rather come back to it when I have more novel-writing experience. I don't want to ruin my baby with a hasty amateurish approach. Is it normal or am I just a lazy coward?)

[MillyBecker]

First of all, Hi! I'm new here!

Secondly, to answer the question, I am working on editing a novel I wrote last year. It is a romance with a bit of suspense throw in.

I've got a couple of other novels started, one more a Christian Romance, and the other just a run of the mill chick stuff.
Glad to be a part of this community.

[aadams73]

I'm just about done on the first draft of an amateur detective/mystery novel. I'm crossing my fingers that it will eventually become part of a series.

[jdkiggins]

Currently I'm writing the WIP I posted in the Idol audition. While working on it daily, I also put time into line editing a manuscript that's been left sitting too long.
Both thriller/horror.

Joanne

[katdad]

For the next few months I'm back at work full time -- and I'm not complaining -- the money's terrific (I'm a technical analyst and writer)

But I'm exhausted and have put my 3rd novel on the shelf for a while, at least until I get caught up on my sleep.

This is a series of private detective novels, and the first 2 books are at my agent now, and he's shopping them around.

I also have a long essay/article about Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" (The Marriage of Figaro) that I'm putting together -- it should be finished in a month or so.

[jdkiggins]

I hope when everyone gets their short stories, novellas, and WIP published you all come back and tell us where to find it. :) All of these works sound very interesting.

[Hermit]

I thought I'd shake things up a bit by combining two completely seperate genres into a new one....as far as I know anyway.

I'm taking a gay male romance story and combining it with the meta-physical movement.

Each genre will have about 50% of the story, but the stories will be seperate. Ie...they won't be lovers in another life etc (boring!). It's about two grown men who eventually find each other in love and accept and work on the one man's career of using out-of-body experiences to help the rich and famous. The love story does not have any part in the meta-physical aspect and the out-of-body stuff has nothing to do with the love story part.

Plausible? Sure, Why not?!! We'll see how it works:)

[WVWriterGirl]

Finished novel is a medieval fantasy. WIP-1 is sequel to finished novel. WIP-2 is novelized/fictionalized local ghost story/murder mystery. WIP-3 and WIP-4 are both fantasy, but unrelated to WIP-1 and WIP-2. Two short stories with fantasy/horror twist, but light. Two more light fantasy short stories slated to be started this weekend. WIP-5 is a short story-come-novel I've been trying to convert. WIP-6 is a fantasy I've been collaborating on.

Geez. I'd never really stopped to think about it. No wonder I can't seem to get anything done...

WVWG

[Hummingbird]

I'm working on a unicorn fantasy. I won't go into details, but I'm trying to make it funny. ;) Hopefully it can live to be a series.
My other WIP, is waiting for me to get more experience. It's another fantasy, with elemental magic, old world setting, and creatures I've made up. (I'm dieing to work on it, but I'm having so much fun with my unicorn one!)
Everyone's stories sound great just from the little bit of information! Yes, please, when a story gets published, tell us! :D

[Thekherham]

Right now I'm editing a long novel; I'm eading it aloud because you can catch more errors and stupid-sounding syntax that way. It's a fantasy, a sort of alternate world story. Things happen there that cannot possibly happen in our world, and yet it reads like a story that could take place in any rural area (read:farm) in North America.

[oswann]

For the next few months I'm back at work full time -- and I'm not complaining -- the money's terrific (I'm a technical analyst and writer)

But I'm exhausted and have put my 3rd novel on the shelf for a while, at least until I get caught up on my sleep.

This is a series of private detective novels, and the first 2 books are at my agent now, and he's shopping them around.

I also have a long essay/article about Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" (The Marriage of Figaro) that I'm putting together -- it should be finished in a month or so.


I wondered what you had been up to. Not being nosy but have enjoyed following from afar your adventures in agent and potential publishing land.

Work away from creation is also good and makes the old head function differently. Rest up and good luck with the Mitch books.

Os.

[Nateskate]

For the next few months I'm back at work full time -- and I'm not complaining -- the money's terrific (I'm a technical analyst and writer)

But I'm exhausted and have put my 3rd novel on the shelf for a while, at least until I get caught up on my sleep.

(The Marriage of Figaro) that I'm putting together -- it should be finished in a month or so.

It's good to see you back. I was wondering where you were, since I haven't seen you around lately. How are the first two works coming along? Let me know when they reach the shelf at B&N so I can go and get me a copy.

[Thunder]

I write fantasy adventure. I have one published novel and one ready to go except for the cover art. I am working on the last novel in the series which I hope to have done by Christmas. I have left the ending open for a possible fourth book, but I want to move on to a continuation of a novella I wrote a few years ago and develope the character and story into a serial novel.

Thunder

[hoyateach]

hoyateach,

If you need beta reader or a source for research material for this, drop me a line. I worked for 6 years in residential care facility for children 6 to 12 years old with the top 2% of behaviour disorders in North America - and I literally have the scars to prove it!

These kids were ADD, ADHD, Oppostional-Defiance Disorder, some with developmental delays or other mental health issues (one little girl was on the brink of fragmenting into Multiple Personality Disorder...:( ). Every kid was either physically, mentally or seually abused - sometime all three.


I'm sure I could give you some insight or we could just exchange "war stories", good or bad, for some of your future work.

Let me know.

Mike


JohnnyC, you have a PM.

[SeanDSchaffer]

I usually write Fantasy, although I've dabbled a couple of times in SF. I'm almost always wanting to write something having to do with dragons, seeing if I can't change some of the rules concerning them and maybe change the roles about a bit.

Right now I'm almost done with a manuscript about a Princess who is transformed into a winged dragon by her betrothed. It's been a long time in the making, but I feel pretty confident that it's just about ready to be submitted. There're a few bugs to be worked out still, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with it.

[triceretops]

A non-fiction book about the discovery of ice age mammals (this one's going to the dumper).

A hard sci-fi novel set 100 years in the future where reading and writing is outlawed--something like Farenheit 451 except much more extreme.

Tri

[Hummingbird]

Right now I'm almost done with a manuscript about a Princess who is transformed into a winged dragon by her betrothed. It's been a long time in the making, but I feel pretty confident that it's just about ready to be submitted. There're a few bugs to be worked out still, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with it.

That sounds good! Could you tell us when it hits shelves? ;)

[Ace]

Anyone able to classify this idea?

It's the story of someone in a coma-induced dream world where he fights crime as a tragically absurd detective and vigilante-in-training. He eventually comes out of the coma to find that he has no memory of his life before the coma. He acclimates to real life but escapes to his dreams each night until characters from his dream begin to permeate his reality and he is committed. After that, everyone in the world gets amnesia and the protagonist escapes the asylum to lead a re-education campaign and eventually settles down on a small island as el presidente. I figure that all of the events of the story could be questioned by the end.

[KTC]

I'm writing a story that I'm not sure how to classify. I could make some minor changes to make it a young adult, or I could leave it as is for fiction?

Here's an earlier synopsis...

The story opens with an adult ZACH CARSON reflecting on an event from a summer in his youth. He brings the reader back to the event, an accidental barn fire ignited by his best friend, JEFF BARSELL.

Zach, Jeff and a third friend, ARNIE WILSON, struggle to escape the burning loft of the Henderson barn. In their haste a ladder is destroyed, toppling Jeff and Arnie to the ground. When Arnie breaks his leg the other two boys have to rescue him before the fire engulfs them all.

The boys devise an alibi that has Arnie falling from a tree further down the road, away from the fire. Their escape is a success, and nobody suspects them of starting the fire. But as the day wears on there is more bad news. They discover that the house has also burned down. Then they learn that Old Man Henderson has perished in the fire.

As the boys struggle with their guilt, they learn through news reports of the old man’s autopsy that he was actually murdered days before and that the house fire was ignited with an accelerant after the barn was destroyed. As the authorities search for the old man’s murderer, the boys argue about whether or not they should confess to their part in the events.

Days later, Jeff and Zach are at the Barsell’s when the police arrive looking for Jeff’s older brother, MARTY, the town delinquent. One of the officers is holding the slingshot Jeff dropped while the boys were fleeing the barn. The slingshot belongs to Marty and the police want to question him on Henderson’s murder.

Jeff and Zach track Marty down and inform him that the police are looking for him. Zach notices Marty’s panic, but thinks nothing of it. They confess to him about the barn fire and the slingshot. Jeff tries, to no avail, to persuade Marty to go to the police and proclaim his innocence.

When Zach realizes that things are heating up and that Jeff’s brother is being sought for a crime he did not commit, he tries to talk Jeff and Arnie into going to the police. Arnie is itching to tell their secret, but Jeff demands that they remain silent. Unbeknownst to the boys, Marty is taken into custody and confesses to both the fires and the murder.

Meanwhile, Zach breaks his promise and anonymously informs the police of Jeff’s guilt. Although the police briefly question Jeff, they are satisfied that the investigation is complete. They consider the tip to be orchestrated by Jeff as a last-ditch effort to save his brother.

After Jeff’s interrogation, he and Zach meet up with Arnie. Jeff, in a rage and convinced that it was Arnie who betrayed him, beats Arnie up and ends their relationship. Zach, afraid of Jeff’s wrath and of losing his friendship, goes along with his assumption and admonishes Arnie for going to the police. He then feels guilty, but remains quiet and allows Arnie to take the fall for his disloyalty.

Jeff shares with Zach Marty’s confession that he had accidentally killed the old man in a botched robbery and had been hanging out at the house trying to think of a plan of action. Jeff explains that, upon seeing the barn fire, Marty decided to torch the house hoping any evidence linking him to the crime would be destroyed.

Zach, the adult, reflects on the time that has lapsed since the summer that so reshaped the three friends’ lives. He brings the reader up to date on his own life and the lives of his friends. He also explains the guilt he has carried, over the years, regarding Jeff and Arnie’s broken relationship. Upon reflection, he decides that it is time to put an end to things and bring the friends back together. It is the only way he can put the summer of ’83 behind him.

[Kallahan]

Super-natural/phscological mystery. Even in my first draft its getting a bit bloated with symbolism. The story is almsot told through its symbolism. Weird, I always thought I would write a sci-fi, but when the idea came across me I realized that the sci-fi elements were unnecessary and cut them. Now I'm reading mystery novels, which I have never previously had an interest in, for some context. (which is probably not the right word, but I'm up to late as it is)

[wills]

I have three novels in various stages of completion. I switch between them after completing various work stages, one is nearing 'polished stage' and will soon start the trawl for a publisher.

One story deals with transition of Portugal into a democracy (last quarter of 20C) told through the life of an artist.

Another is fictional account of the burning of Stave Churches in Norway in the 1990's.

The third is a good old fashioned story of morality seen through the life of a severely handicapped individual.

With most stories plots are just a device for telling another tale, the recurring theme in most of my work is illusion and delusion at the personal, corporate, institutional and national levels.

I also write erotic (not explicit sexual) short stories. I use these to develop 'voices', characters and relationships and find the feedback I receive useful in crystalising language in the longer works.

[Malcolm]

Hi group. I have recently self-published a novel and I'm very excited to share it with the world. Reflections from Shadow is a fictional coming of age memoir of the 60's with paranormal aspects to it. A young man who has had strange experiences and dreams about prisoners since early life is drawn to back-pack in Europe and visit Germany. He finds the country spooky because he finds he can read some of the language and certain things seem familiar. When he and his friend visit Dachau concentration camp museum outside Munich he has a paranomral experience that transports him to 1943 in the camp. He can see everything but they cannot see him and he learns a horrible secret about he and his best friend that threatens his survival. I've been pleased by the positive response by the 100 people who have purchased and read my book. You can check out my bio and the first two chapters at http://www.trafford.com/robots/03-1797.html
I'd be glad to answer your questions about the book, POD (Print on demand)technology and my experience producing the book myself. Cheers to all. Malcolm Watts mwattsmswcsw@yahoo.com :hi:

[brokenfingers]

I'm writing a story that I'm not sure how to classify. I could make some minor changes to make it a young adult, or I could leave it as is for fiction?


Definitely sounds intriguing and like it'd be a good read.

I would think it'd be mainstream fiction, but like many have said: Write the best story you can and then let your agent/publisher figure out how to best classify it.

As far as query or synopsis - I'd say treat it as a mainstream fiction novel, until somebody pays you to say different...