Current Project: Untitled Fantasy/Murder Mystery Novel
Current Pitch: Pinocchio meets In the Heat of The Night. Plus Practical Magic.

First Appearance of Semi-Antagonistic Possible Love Interest: Imminent
First Real Suspect Introduced: T – 3 pages, give or take.
Minor in Religion & Philosophy: Possibly being used in a practical manner for the very first time.

Song From Current Project Playlist: “All the Rowboats” – Regina Spektor

Goal Met: Not yet

The first two chapters of this novel were definitely on the short side, their primary aims going like so:

Introduce one sister.
Kill off another sister.
Introduce the last sister.

No need to drag that out. Chapter 3, on the other hand, should probably be a bit longer, as I need to both kickstart the murder investigation while letting my two grief struck protagonists reconnect after their long separation. I like fast-paced mysteries and I don’t want this story to drag, but it’s also important to me to spend some time with the girls mourning. Like, the whole story is built on their relationship with both each other and the sister who died. It doesn’t really work if I have Wishing Stones and Death Glass stare soulfully at the ground for half a second before moving on with the plot, having seemingly forgotten their dead relative in their haste to Go Do Stuff. Yes, I’m talking to you, Luke Skywalker. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are not pleased.

I find that I’m struggling a bit with motivation, which, well. It feels a bit early in the novel process for that. I’m hoping that once I really get into the mystery proper, I’ll find my way a bit easier. I think part of the problem, too, is that I’m trying to world build as I write, and while I think that’s the only approach I can go with here — particularly given the six-week challenge — I kind of feel like I’m swimming through mud, trying to write in a world that only feels vaguely outlined. Second-world fantasy does not appear to come naturally to me. Also, gardeners? Yeah, go fuck yourselves, gardeners. No one wants your spontaneous creativity and mouth breathing.

(Sorry, GRRM.)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, this cranky architect would like some more peanut butter M&Ms to wash down her (only quasi-serious) bitterness. I will leave you with another random line from the current chapter:

Sinjyn wanted people to be happy. She only believed in a certain kind of honest.