So, it's been a while since I wrote a blog from the writer's desk. It's not that I haven't been writing. In fact, I have been writing, a lot. I'm already 23 chapters into this book. But, I just haven't had much to say about it.
Cary Simms is a new series that I'm doing, sort of a trans friendly version of Harry Potter, without it being Harry Potter. Cary Simms is a transgirl who stumbled into the magical realm, a sort of in-between place that connects several other realms together. Moreover, it's the only place that magic thrives. Magic only spills over into the other realms, and can be used to get to the magical realm.
So far, the book had largely been based around Cary's faith. She was raised to be a good Christian boy, which comes into conflict when she first arrives in the magical realm. Because, you know, the whole "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" thing. Meanwhile, her BFF is there, and the two of them are adjusting to life in the magical realm, at Thorbjorg Prep (named for a Norse sorceress). I managed to get past the crisis of faith a few days ago, but due to this being a middle grade book (and thusly meant to be shorter than my usual YA/GA), we're already getting to the main climax.
Part of me thinks that the book would have been better if I could have drawn out the story a little more. Get to my usual 60 chapters that I do for my other books. But with that, I would have stuck to my original plan of a book per school year. As it is, the plan is more a book per semester. This allows for Cary to grow a bit more, with more struggles that aren't all necessarily related to the main big bad. This also means that the series will go 16 books, which is a bit insane even for me. But... well...
Anyway, with how my books are being scheduled at the moment, I'll be doing 1 Cary Simms and 4 YA/GA books a year going forward. This year is a bit different due to how I was releasing books previously, and I have some extra room in the schedule. So, this year, 2 Cary Simms books. It helps get the series going a bit better, and have more available once it goes to print, close to the end of the year. It's my first attempt at a middle grade book, though, so I'm hoping for more help from beta readers if anyone is interested.
