A writer looks ahead to 2013

What's coming for Ty in 2013? What are my writing plans?

The truth is, I have few specific ones. I'm not setting concrete goals for the long term.

Sounds lazy, but the truth is, I have so many things I want to write, and my interests and mental/emotional state range from day to day, so I don't like to tie myself down with a long project that I'll tire of before I'm finished.

I've been in the mood to get back into fantasy somewhat, so I will possibly turn that direction in the coming months. But I've also been thinking a lot about a zombie novel idea I've had for some time.

Whatever direction I turn, my next work(s) will likely be a serialized series of four to six parts, or possibly a series of connected short stories. It's only been in the last few months that I've been working in this format, and I've found uses for it that were unexpected. For instance, there are stories I want to tell set in my fantasy world of Ursia, stories that aren't long enough for a novel but are more than a short story, maybe even more than a novella or novelette, sort of weird lengths. And then there are connected stories that really should go together in a series or collection. For instance, I've been wanting to write some of the background stories, the histories in a manner of speaking, for some of my characters, but those tales mostly come in little bits; otherwise, there would be long stretches of not much happening. These origin tales are ripe to be serialized or to come in a series.

That doesn't mean I've given up on novels. I've been giving a lot of thought to my next Ursia novel, which will feature Kron as the main character, and will be titled The Company of Seven. This novel will stay within the confines of the city of Bond, making it somewhat related in style to my earlier novels City of Rogues and Ghosts of the Asylum. Some old characters will return, and some new ones will appear. Also, though I've not titled any of these novels as such yet, The Company of Seven is actually the third novel in a trilogy, the first book being Ghosts of the Asylum, and the second being Demon Chains. Once I have published that third novel, I will likely give each of them a slightly different title, at least on the cover, to acknowledge they are part of a trilogy; each novel stands as a work alone in and of itself, so if a reader only picks up one of them they should not feel slighted, but there are related events and themes shared between them.

I've also got a background novel for Ursia that I'd like to work on, one I've been giving a lot of thought to. The events take place approximately 10,000 years before City of Rogues, which I think of as the "central" novel to my entire Ursian Chronicles because it happens sort of in the middle of the much longer timeline I have in my head. For those with long memories, yes, the events predate even the existence (or at least appearance) of the god Ashal and my Bayne character. This novel will likely be titled Whom the Gods Slay.

But it will be a while probably before I step into a full blown novel. For one thing, some personal things are likely to hit me in the coming couple of months, and I'll have to deal with them, which means I don't want to be bogged down with a long work while my mind might be elsewhere. So, I'll be focusing upon short stories and serialized fiction for at least the next few months.

For that matter, I wrote a fair number of shorts this past year which should see publication in the coming year. I'll make sure to post something here, and at the appropriate social networking sites, when and where and how those stories are available.

So, here's to 2013! I wrote about 600,000 words in 2012, and I'd like to top that in the coming year.