The Dilemma: What Do I Write Next?
Thoughts as I’m nearing the end of my current series.
The idea for The Gentleman Space Pirate series first popped into my head about a year and a half ago. The file where I began to put down my ideas was called the Businessman Space Pirate Idea. While I originally intended to begin telling the story from a specific place, I had an epiphany in the shower one morning and instead began at a more logical place. (The original starting point is now Book 3).
After 6 months of ongoing plotting and planning, which included outlining 5 books, I began to write the series. A year later, Book 1 is on the cusp of being published, and I’m moving through writing book 5 (which still needs a title). Given the pace I write at to meet my word count, I’ll be done writing the series by the end of October (which is when I’m publishing Rise of The Captain – Book 1).
If I stay on this schedule, it means I will have written 5 books in 13 months. Since the first 4 books are an average of 95,635 words each, that means this series is on track to be a total of more than 478,176 words. That’s a lot of damned words.
All that notwithstanding, the end of the series is approaching. Ergo, the dilemma: what do I write next?
The first two ideas brewing in my head
There are, at present, 4 very distinct ideas for what to write next rolling around in my head.
The first is a departure from my usual. Many years ago, during downtime at Pennsic, I started to write a fantasy story. The characters I created and the situation I put them in were typical fantasy. But, looking at it with a fresh eye many years later, I think I could turn it into a romantasy.
Why romantasy? First, admittedly, it’s a popular genre. Second, it takes me out of my comfort zone. Third, why not? I also have an excellent resource for writing the parts of the romance that I’m less familiar with: my wife (who has written a dark romance bordering on smut, which she’ll share with the world eventually).
Getting out of my comfort zone is never a bad idea. So I’m working out if I can do something with this.
Idea 2 is something I started to plan and plot around the same time I began to plan and plot the Gentleman Space Pirate series. This is fantasy with a twist on some of the normal tropes. A world with Stempunk-esque elements that are more Solarpunk. (The difference being solar-powered devices vs steam-powered). I partially plotted the first 2 books of The Dalshuzo Accords and even wrote a short story in that world (which you get if you sign up for my newsletter, FYI). I’d like to rework some of the magic elements of this world, but it will be made manifest at some point.
The other two ideas for what to write next
I’m separating out the other two ideas because they are both completely in my comfort zone. Yes, that means more sci-fi. Sure, I can argue that I have written fantasy (my first published works are all fantasy), but I’ve not done so in more than a decade.
The third idea is another sci-fi story set in the same universe as Gentleman Space Pirate. Turns out, I’ve given myself a TON of space to write more in that universe I created without making a direct connection. This is due to the nature of how I’ve divided the future Milky Way Galaxy into arms with multiple quadrants that often don’t communicate with each other AT ALL. Additionally, I’ve already explained the universality of money, FTL travel, nonhuman races, and so on. Hence, this opens me to worlds of possibility (pun not intended).
Star Wars is the inspiration for this. An overzealous, over-controlling, totalitarian government. Rebellion. Might also be inspired by current events and seeing how people can fall for/buy into the lies and deception of their leaders.
The fourth (but not, in fact, final) idea is another Gentleman Space Pirate novel. I have an idea for a 6th book. To some degree, however, I’d like to see how the rest of the series does before I commit to continuing it. Given the semi-standalone nature of each book in the series, I could easily write more. Lots more, really. I could even do prequels because there are lots of character backstories and millennia of history that might make interesting books.
There are also a couple of other half-formed ideas that I started to explore (and even wrote down). In time, I might go back to pursue them.
Write now, write next
Why does it matter now what I write next? The short answer is because I’m a professional writer. Ergo, I write books.
The longer answer is that when I decided to turn pro (in the way championed by author Stephen Pressfield in his War of Art and other nonfiction books about writing and being a creative). As such, I needed to make a discipline of my writing.
I set myself the goal of producing a minimum of 1500 words per day. Mind you, per weekday. Your 9-5 job might be in an office; mine is at my keyboard, taking the stories from my head and turning them into books I get to share.
These blogs are all about my ongoing process because this IS, ultimately, an ongoing process. I love storytelling. My primary love of that is made manifest in books and blogs. Hence, as I near the end of what I’m writing now, it’s time to consider what to write next.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey, please consider this: How are you inspired and empowered to be your own authentic creator, whatever form that takes?
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