When a person makes a goal at the beginning of the year, sometimes things change along the way, and those objectives might change, as well.
While working on A Darkling Nine, I came to a point in the story where I didn’t really know how things should resolve. That means I take one of two actions. I can either push through and see what comes out, or I can step away and let it simmer in the subconscious. I chose the latter.
I had intended the break to be only long enough to get Fishpunk done, but after immersing myself in a Ray Bradbury lecture yesterday, I’m giving a few other aspects of my craft some thought. There are some things I want to try with short fiction, and I’m not sure sticking rigidly to my objective of writing four novels this year is the right thing to do.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I can’t do it. I’m saying it may not be the right thing for me to do. So, I am going to pull back to finishing three novels this year, the first of which was Fishpunk, the second being A Darkling Nine, and the third probably Barnard’s Star, a sequel to Rigel Kentaurus.
With the time opened up by pushing the fourth novel back a month or so, I want to do a few things with short fiction. I have a story with a rewrite request I have resisted for three or four years. I’ve decided to retool that short. I also want to try something that occurred to me while listening to Bradbury, something that would take an entirely new short story. I also have to finish up the Fishpunk edits and get that book out the door.
I expect the net result of this will be I will start the fourth novel this year, and not finish it. But, we shall see.
