Days 22-25
Do you edit as you go, or push through that first draft?
It honestly varies. I do a little bit of editing as I go through, but the first draft will morph and shift under me through weeks of experimental writing until I get the plot and outline right, figure the characters out and get to grips with what I actually want to say. But pushing through to the end gives me a better idea of how to improve it, so I might bash out a first draft straight through and then sit on it for ages until I’m ready to revise.
Is anyone getting hitched in your WiP?
Thirteenth is not even a ‘kissing book’. Wes is already in a stable polyamorous relationship, Katy’s college crush is unrequited (or is it? for now, we won’t know) and Ricky’s … at most demi/greysexual and demi/greyromantic.
Eldritch Girls is a slasher-romance but will they/won’t they [survive their love affair]? That would be telling.
How much effort/detail would your MC put into planning a wedding?
THIRTEENTH
– Katy Porter would have a Pinterest board, a whole aesthetic, and a lot of input from her friends (especially Rachel). So: a lot. A whole lot.
– Wes Porter would hire someone to do that for him.
– Ricky Porter wouldn’t be planning a wedding. At all.
ELDRITCH GIRLS
– Sasha Shaw is a full-on Bridezilla. She’s not even sorry.
We’re looking for Summer Reads! Any suggestions?
ANTHOLOGIES
Unspeakable: A Queer Gothic Anthology, edited by Celine Frohn, can’t choose a stand-out favourite story from this anthology!! Loved them all!!
From Ashes to Magic, edited by Mikki Noble – my personal favourites were by A. Denner and Nita Pan [one major reason why I wanted to work with her on the Eldritch Girls project!]
The Testament of Cthulhu by Mark McLaughlin and Michael Sheehan Jr., some fun short stories in the Weird Fiction vein here, a light easy read.
From The Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury, really loved this collection of shorts tied together as a novel.
Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman (see my review here)
FICTION NOVELS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
Victorian Mistress [and the sequel, Nine Shillings] by Jesse Stuart
Kinship and Kindness by Kara Jorgensen, on my TBR
The Divinity Student by Michael Cisco (see my review here)
Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng
Three Star Island by Kat Caulberg
Black Dog Rising by Kat Caulberg (I’ve received the ARC and it has now been released!)
Widdershins (the whole Whyborne & Griffin series, in fact!!) by Jordan L. Hawk
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Please Look After Mother by Kyung-sook Shin
Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevski
The Truth in Lies by Gemma Cartmell (see my review here)
Spectred Isle by K. J. Charles
Stoker’s Wilde by Stephen Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi (see my review here)
Dragon’s Treasure by Maya Starling
Soul’s Choice by Kerri Davidson (CW for disordered eating, parental bereavement, suicide, and abusive relationship)
I quite like most Golden Age Detective novels, so I’d recommend Ngaio Marsh, but also Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie.
Hopeless Maine Vol. 1: The Gathering by Tom and Nimue Brown (I love all the series)
Men-an-Tol, a bilingual Cornish/English comic by Joana Varanda and Tania A. Cordoso
NON-FICTION
Body Gothic by Xavier Aldana Reyes (see my summary/review here)
C. M. Rosens 