Friday, April 13, 2012

What to write now?

So, Outsiders from Oz has been out for over a month now. It hasn't been selling quickly, I must admit. Hopefully people are just waiting for reviews to come in and the option to purchase it on Amazon. (Though Amazon eats up over half of the markup.)

I don't plan to do a "sequel" to Outsiders with the same characters and a similar premise. However, those that have read the book know that at the end a couple mysterious characters pop up that may or may not be followed up on later. I do plan on telling their story. However, the book will be very different from Outsiders. I'm trying to plan it as a book of short stories connected only by the lead characters, kind of like The Magical Monarch of Mo. It'll be fun because the idea I have in mind will allow the characters to go anywhere and get caught up in just about any situation.

My take on Princess Truella of Mo from Outsiders will join the Royal Explorers of Oz in the second volume of that series, expected this summer. However, I'm really not quite as involved in Royal Explorers as the author credits might have you think. I helped a lot in the conceptual process, but when it comes to writing, it's mainly on Marcus and Jeff.

While I took some liberty in the first book, tossing out the first chapter and rewriting it, my work on the second book is much more minimal. Basically, I went through and made sure Marcus and Jeff were treating "my" characters right. (I've adopted Bobo and Truella.) My writing is less than two sentences in that book, because it's a cracking good story and there wasn't much to add by the time I got around to it. If you weren't satisfied with the first one, the second book is going to make up for that. I really look forward to taking a look at the third one!

I have a story idea I think I'll write before attempting the follow-up to Outsiders: it's a sequel to Dot and Tot of Merryland, a short story that catches up with "Dot" and "Tot" 18 years after their journey in Merryland and we see what kind of people they've become.

As for other writing, I submitted an essay to the next Winkie Convention program book. In the past, spare copies have been sold before and after the Convention, so if you're not going, you could still get a copy. Maybe. And even if you're not going, you might want to consider contributing something to the program book yourself.

Also, keep an eye out for Oziana as I understand work I've submitted will be included in the next two issues, the first coming out later this year.

... I'm everywhere, aren't I?

2 comments:

Eric said...

Or you can contribute to the Winkie Convention Research Table. All fiction, non-fiction, and art are acceptable, so long as they haven't been previously published elsewhere first. If anyone has a question or would like to see the submission guidelines, drop me a line at research@winkies.org. (You don't have to actually be attending the convention to take part.)

Nathan said...

I'm about the same way when it comes to Oz stories, which is to say all over the place. I haven't been writing much recently, but I have a few old manuscripts I need to revise.