It's good to free your mind.

My first actual writing-related update of the New Year. Apocalypse Woman's follow-up, Apocalypse Incarnation is progressing... well, it's not. Writing it has been a continual frustration and I've decided the whole story needs to be reworked from the beginning.

Long story short, to make events unfold as I'd planned I was going to have to do something horrible to one of the characters; as in horrible even by Apocalypse standards. While this series is all about dark, edgy, morally ambiguous stuff, what was going to happen crossed a line I didn't feel comfortable crossing. And while I can't speak for them, I don't think my publisher would have wanted to cross it either. Making matters worse, the story porceeds in such a way that the character who would suffer the greatest emotional impact from the event would not be able to acknowledge it in the manner I feel she should. Not an option.

So I'm taking a break from Apocalypse Incarnation for now and resuming work on a short story that bridges the gap between Woman and Incarnation. It's a stand-alone piece that can be read outside of the series, and likewise you'll be able to skip it without missing anything in the series if you choose. But I'm hoping it will make for good "bonus material" for those who enjoy the world of the stories and want to see more of it. The working title is Rose Thorn but that's likely to change.

It's good practice for me on a lot of levels. I am verbose and thus don't do short stories very well so forcing myself to stay within the format is good practice. And playing in the Apocalypse world* without being chained to the main characters of the series is renewing my enthusiasm for the place as a whole. I'm keeping my semi-official New Year's Resolution of writing on it every day as well, and that's so much easier when you're not frustrated with the piece in front of you. I think anyone who's ever tried writing will agree.

*I really need to come up with a name for this place. Calling it "Apocalypse world" conjures up too many associations with place ruled by a big, grouchy blue guy who hates Superman.