When I had the honor of interviewing Neil Gaiman at WorldCon, one thing he said struck me hard – it was when he was talking about how he doesn’t want to write the same thing every year: he wants to write different things and used the metaphor of food to explain. Instead of steak every year, one year he could write sushi, or a sandwich, “or a really really weird cake.”
I loved that. I wanted to write a really really weird cake.
I just got back from DragonCon, and I saw some old friends and made some new, and one question kept coming up. And it was surprising and gratifying and amazing. (Big f’n squee- even Phil Plait asked me this.)
When do we get Playing For Keeps 2?
It’s very difficult to describe this, and I am always so afraid that I’m going to offend someone. But here is how my fiction looks right now (publication offers change everything, and this is in no particular order):
- Heaven (novel): completed final draft. (w00t)
- Code Name Underground: Completed rough draft.
- Heaven Book 2 (novel) Working rough draft (existing novellas will need considerable work).
- Code Name Crumpet: concept phase.
- Code name Limerent: concept phase (based off existing short story).
- Audio Drama 1: concept phase (most of cast confirmed)
- Audio Drama 2: concept phase (half cast confirmed)
- Playing For Keeps 2: outline phase.
My mind is going ga-ga over the new projects. I think about them frequently. I think about Underground and the possibility for really fun outside-book content and podcast opportunities. I think about gritty Limerent and going darker and more SF than I usually do. Crumpet is a huge undertaking with conspiracies and secret organizations. And the audio dramas are just going to be twisted and fun.
I know where PFK2 is going. I have a clear vision. I just don’t know where it falls in priority/scheduling. But there’s also the question of: do I want to write another superhero steak, or do I want to bake a really really weird cake?
I kinda want that cake.
BUT- I started this post last night, and had a second thought this morning. NaNoWriMo is coming up soon. I’ve never successfully done it, as it always falls during a time I am in the middle of another big project. But it’s possible I could dedicate November to PFK2, hammer it out, finish it in Dec. and then be done with it. Giving myself a hard deadline might be the way to do it. And heck, I’ve always wanted to do NaNo.
This is NOT a declaration. I’m still pondering. But I do want to say it’s so gratifying that people want to see Book 2, I’m just very excited about new ideas I have. It’s becoming a question of time and priorities.
Many listeners ask me how to decide which project to work on first. Clearly, I have no idea…
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14 Responses to A really really weird cake
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I’m pondering NaNo this year, too.
You go, eagle!
Get those Nano-pants on and write up a storm!!!
So…scratchin’ my head … the thing is to write a REALLY weird cake, while wearing pants. (I’m taking notes
)
Can I just say for the record that I just love the Codenames you come up with for your projects?
Mur + darker + more SF = Woo! I can’t wait to taste this sweet sweet (weird) cake.
Looks like I’m not going to be able to do NaNoWriMo again this year, since I’m going to be on my (delayed) honeymoon for most of the month. Somehow, I doubt my wife would appreciate me locking myself in the hotel room to write for hours on end at such a time.
I did I little happy dance when I heard Gaiman say that- cos that’s exactly what I want as a career. One of my earliest writing heroes, CJ Cherryh has been making weird cakes for decades, or as the marketing types might say she has lots of diffferent ‘properties’. I think getting tied up in a series of one thing can be a golden cage- sure a nice profitable golden cage, but one never the less.
It’s nice people want more of the same, but as a writer sometimes that doesn’t help you grow- plus even eating steak all the time, you’re gonna get bored.
I just love weird frickin cake. And I like to have the whole thing on my plate, with the pickles and fried chicken and everything.
/Cheering for Mighty Mur!/
“Mur Lafferty is not your bitch.”
Oh my goodness, I am so excited that you are considering NaNoWriMo, and I’m not even sure why. It’s not like it affects me at all. I really hope you do join the NaNoWriMo party, and I do hope you get PFK2 done so I can read it. Go Mur Go!
Also, I love the code names for your projects. I need to come up with code names for my (much shorter) list of projects so I can feel more official about them.
Go Mur! Weird cake! Weird cake!
I just finished the 3-Day Novel contest, and I’m already thinking about NaNo. And I have a hankering for weird cake.
There’s no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
Screw the pants, go get the cake!
Project crumpet sounds…enticing? Can you release any more details about it?
Barry’s Cardinal Rules #1: Cake must always be top priority
[...] have been thinking again about Neil Gaiman’s “really weird cake” and how I need to keep that concept in mind. Currently I’m writing a science fiction story [...]