This is normally something I would put into a blog, but since I don't really have one, I thought I'd ask here instead.
My Big Project I'm writing right now is a children's horror novel called The Strangenss of Kay's House. I'm about 30,000 words in, and probably am 2/3rds or more of the way finished with it, but I hit a rather annoying block, mainly because I realize I don't know my main character nearly as well as I thought I did when I started writing.
I've learned quite a bit since I started writing it, so the beginning of the story is terrible, and the latest of what I've written is okay, but I needed to find a better way to build my world (which is fantasy-ish, in the genre of Coraline and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).
My idea was to write a series of short stories which serve as a sort of prequel to the full novel. They're self-contained stories, but each will add to the "mythology", which I hope will entertain adult readers, even if it goes over the heads of the target audience (since this is children's horror).
I'm not entirely sure how long each story would be, but I'm aiming for longish short stories, which may be convertible into short children's books. Either that, or I could try publishing them as a collection.
Really, I'm not sure what my question is (which again is why I need a blog), but maybe some of you would feel like pinging some ideas and experience at me and give me your thoughts on my process.
Nathan, I just want to say that your acerbic wit, well displayed in your first and final sentences, is a treat. I mean that. No irony.
I would have added to your post about blogs, but my cynicism, and penchant for (in this case) pessimistic fatalism, prevented me from cheering on a theoretically great idea. Particularly when so much of the great idea rides on the idealistic tenet that, given the choice to blog or not to blog, apathy won't win out and LR's monetary investment in the endeavor won't prove misappropriated.
I have not the experience writing to help you with your query, but I do like the idea of children's horror. I've never read any. But it does sound like an intriguing, if tonally, thematically and contextually precarious publishing possibility.
I had fun stringing the Ps.
I should rent Coraline. Have you ever played American McGee's Alice? There was an inferior sequel recently, but if you have an Xbox or something I would check it out. And if there's a way to play the original, I highly recommend it if you can manage the dated presentation.
Coraline is excellent. I enjoyed the book more than the movie, but I loved them both.
I have played both the Alice games, and loved them both to death. They're absolutely beautiful, and I never get tired of them.
Coraline is in my really, really long Netflix queue. Probably four hundred and something. And I hope to check out the sequel to Alice in the near future.
The first one I agree is one of the great ones.
So much media to consume, so little time.
