I realize it’s been a very long time since I’ve given any news about my horror book Outlast. I was originally writing it in parts, with each part being uploaded for people to read as I was writing. It’s something Hugh Howey does, and when do I not want to imitate my hero?
Regardless, progress on the series has been extremely slow. I’ve run into a few blocks with where I want the story to end up, and I’m finding it hard to separate my mind from all the fiction in movies, books, TV, and games that already exist on the survival-horror genre. There’s just so much out there that’s so good, I’m finding it hard to make a place for Dany and Victor now that they’re off the farm. I keep thinking I know where and what I want, and what seems natural for them, and then BAM - it all falls apart.
Not to mention the very popular, super fantastic game series with the same name. I mean, come on. Can I catch a break?
While I work through these kinks (the current pandemic isn’t helping much), I’ve taken the first two parts of the series down. Having them up, not knowing when part three will show up, is a bit stressful. They’ll come back eventually.
In other news, my other WIPs are Calypso 2 - Self (another slow burn) and a horror story I’ve been writing in my head for a while now that’s finally getting to be put onto paper. I don’t want to say too much on it, since things are finally locking into place in my head, but I’ve gotten to the point where I scare myself when I’m writing it. I have to have the lights on and my back away from the door. The main character is also nonbinary, which I’m super excited about as a nonbinary person because I’ve yet to read a fiction book outside the “queer” genre (that’s not a graphic novel) where the main character has neutral pronouns. I’m sure they exist and I just haven’t found them, but they can’t be that common if I haven’t found one yet. Writing with neutral pronouns is a challenge - I worry readers won’t know who I’m referring to when I use “them” or “they”, but it just means I have to be more careful with my descriptions. It’s satisfying, really.
And then, of course, like every writer I have another six hundred stories that I’ve started somewhere.
Outlast will always have a special place in my heart, but for now, it’s taking a break and getting some much-needed rest. I can’t force Vic and Dany to find their way through the forest. They’ll find their way out.