Spring Cleaning, aka Brain Dump

That was the big focus in the early months of 2022. I also drafted a short story (working title: The Finest Creation of an Artful God) and worked on the rough draft of Victoria, a modern retelling of Frankenstein. The short story went well and came together in a couple of sessions, and is now on its third draft. It’s clean, straightforward, and has some really nice lines. I like it a lot. I’ve sent it to my usual beta readers, so fingers crossed I can call it done soon and send it out on submission.

Victoria... is a pain (Affectionate.). I love the original Frankenstein. I think I’ve read it five times, now, and I notice something new each time. And I’ve been craving a modern retelling of it for years now. There’s been plenty of retellings, but many of them are set in the same time-period, just focusing on different characters. Or adding a more detailed romance. They’re tweaks and playful iterations that I appreciate very, very much. 

But I haven’t seen a truly faithful, modern, Science Fiction retelling. That hasn’t come across my radar (if it exists please let me know!). This book, my gender-bent, near future/modern retelling has been a little seed of an idea for years. Something I refused to look full in the face, because I didn’t think I could be the one to write it. But Toni Morrison said, “If there is a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.” So, I guess it’s my responsibility to bring it into the world. 

 But it’s a strange beast. An unwieldy almalgamation of documents, pieced together to tell a story we all know in a way that makes it feel new. I did a lot of research and prewriting. I outlined. OUTLINED! I NEVER outline. And everything about this book (novella?) is different for me. The chapters are small. There’s almost no description. It’s most likely going to be a novella, not a full blown book. I’ve got it all plotted out (save for some murky bits in the middle). It’s nonlinear. It’s got a narrator who very well might be unreliable (haven’t sorted that bit out just yet). And it has a secondary narrator that is in omniscient 3rd.

Basically, there’s A LOT happening in this small book. I feel like I’m grappling with a narrative octopus, just barely maintaining my grip on what’s happening in any moment. I feel like it’s trash. The prose is too simple to carry all this structural weight. It isn’t going to work. I’m juggling too many elements and I’m going to drop them all at some point. 

But I keep sending it to my critique group and they just. keep. loving it! 

It’s encouraging. Buoying. I leave our meetings feeling refreshed and ready to take on the massive task this little book has become. And yet… I haven’t written a word on this project since Horizon Forbidden West came out. Last night I did boot up the playlist and read through the last couple of chapters, which is more than I’ve done in months. 

So what do I do next? I need to identify the pressing concerns.