Writing Status? Unblocked. Beautifully unblocked.

It’s terribly inconvenient. I realize I only say that because of how happy I am that my characters are talking to me again. But they always seem to choose the most inopportune times–before deadlines, when I don’t have paper, at 2:23 a.m. Sometimes they strike the lucky golden number of all three.

I’ve been up past midnight more than I should admit the last two weeks because my fingers won’t stop flicking over the keys.

So what am I working on?

Urban high fantasy. It’s about 9,000-odd words at the moment. Currently I’m dodging the backstory/this-is-how-my-super-complicated-magic-system-works dump and reminding myself that just because I’ve spent months hanging out with these characters in various other short stories, I still have to explain to the reader who they are.

Also plot. I have only half a plot.

Am I the only one who really struggles with villains? I can’t seem to make them scary enough. Maybe it’s just because I’ve read so many they all feel predictable. I don’t know. If anybody knows good ways to build a villain that’s just plain despicable, please, please share the tips. I already can make sympathetic villains. I make too many of those…

Reading Update?

Getting ready to read Dune. For the first time. A loved one loaned me a trade paperback copy bought at a thrift store. You know, the one with so much orange on the cover and pages that can no longer technically be called white and the musty smell that says read me, read me, climb inside, I have so many things to show you.

It’s now blatantly obvious I am a fan of battered old books.

And just so we’re on the same page…I did finish reading the Harry Potter series this summer. I am planning on finishing my Harry Potter Project by doing book blogs on each of them.

You’ve probably noticed I haven’t made a peep about it since July. I often find that the more involved I become with a book, the more difficult it is for me to filter all the things about it into a simple blog post. I keep thinking I’ll forget something beautiful I should have mentioned, that I come off to harsh on the flaws. And don’t even think about the headache of rating it in stars.

That being said, I’m going to do it. I can’t let this become like The Name of the Wind review that is still half-finished because the series tore my heart out and ate it. I finished Potter, and the reviews will come.

Just probably not until after my characters stop poking me awake at night. Stay tuned.