What I’ve Done
Yesterday, I launched my author website. Woohoo! And now, back to the grindstone.
Much of the past month I spent applying to jobs in Austin and querying literary agents with MIRI MEDERA, INTERPLANAR POTION-MAKER, a project which you can read more about here. With those tasks and my website complete, I can return my focus again to writing.
Well, that and moving. See, I’m not technically based in Austin just yet, but I’ll be out there in the next month or so. As of now, I’m still in Dallas.
What I’m Doing
For my next project, I intend on writing another novel for middle grade audiences—this time, one set in a science fiction setting. In preparation for writing this story, I’ll need to queue up some more contemporary middle grade sci-fi on my reading list. I did the same with middle grade fantasy before I wrote my last project, and it served me well.
Some pop-culture inspirations for this coming story include Cowboy Bebop, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, as I’ve repurposed story elements from each. And of course my usual favorites from the science fiction canon: Star Wars, Dune, The Martian, Ender’s Game, and the like. Recently, I’ve been playing the classic BioWare Star Wars games set in the Old Republic, including the MMORPG, which I’m sure will influence my worldbuilding to some degree.
Speaking of worldbuilding, I intend on setting this story in a universe that I created some time ago for a different, more adult project. The BBEG in that story was going to be a lich. Space lich! How fun would that be? I’ll get around to that story eventually, too, so I won’t give away the twist just yet. The space lich twist.
Of course, I’ll have to make some modifications to the setting so that it better suits a middle grade audience. For example, I originally didn’t want a human race to exist in this universe. The only sapient mammalian race took traits from the big cats of our world, specifically lions. Upon revisiting this, I think I’d rather not attempt to explain the anatomy of several non-human main characters in a sub-60k word story. That doesn’t sound very interesting at all. And so humans shall run rampant.
Although I won’t have time to explain all the internal logic of the universe either, my old setting will provide a backbone and an underlying logic to the lighthearted adventures of these ten to twelve-year-old protagonists. Do my readers need to know that my FTL jumpdrives are powered by crystals produced from matter-antimatter annihilation? No, but I’ll sleep easier at night knowing it myself.
Wrapping Up
So there you have it. The next month or so for me will consist of storyboarding, the early phases of drafting, and moving to Austin. If you’re interested in keeping up with my progress, check back regularly for more blog posts, and keep an eye on my books page.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read a bit about my current endeavors.
– AJG