As I continue to wrap up Borrowed Skin, I’m debating which new thing to attempt (again) first once it’s done.
- A longer non-speculative (ish) work
- A multiple-POV work
If #1, I might go with “WIP owtgdiron” or with something else entirely. I have never published any longer non-speculative work. The longest is 15,000 words or so, if I remember correctly. (Channel Locked.) The main point of writing “non-speculative” stories is to make it obvious (at least subliminally) that life is speculation itself. Life is fucking magic. Existence is infinite. So it’s ridiculous to say that anything is non-speculative as if there is no fantasy or fiction. Everything is fiction. The idea that you suffered or didn’t is fiction. Story categorization is completely useless and messed up, IMO. Completing a longer non-speculative story would be my way of sending a civilized Fuck you to that system.
If #2, I might return to “WIP is.” This is the one that’s already had many many many many incarnations that were born but never ended. If I resume this, I think I will pick up where I left off with the most recent incarnation. This WIP is heavily “speculative.” Heavily, heavily. As in, it’s quite ideal for revealing the actual truth unbothered by lies of facts. It’s also quite action-oriented (compared to other stories I’ve told). The reason I stopped with the most recent incarnation is that I couldn’t solve the “who do I unfold the world for?” question. I know that superficially, it doesn’t matter whether I know why I tell the stories I tell. But non-superficially, I prefer to know.