Tags
anthology, brainstorming, call for submissions, dystopia, inspiration, martyrs, satire, The Writing Process, writer's workshop, YA
I’ve been talking about a lot of upcoming projects lately, THE SHOEMAKER’S APPRENTICE, coming this summer; GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR, coming this winter; and my on-going writer’s workshop, officially launching in June via Patreon.
Well, I also have two anthologies coming this year, which means two more of my own stories, too, and neither of these are canon. The first will be in TRANSCENDENT, our Dreams, Nightmares, Visions, and Hallucinations anthology, whose cover is AMAZING! Thank you, Dean. The second is IN THE AIR, which is our new elemental anthology to go with ON FIRE and UNDERWATER. Coming next year, an earth-related call.
So, I wanted to set up my thoughts as I brainstorm my untitled TRANSCENDENT story.
Currently, I’ve dubbed it Sin-Eaters because that’s the base of my concept. I got this idea from one of my students, who wrote about being an Eater, or one who will do anything to succeed. They live for it.
My twisted brain went to satire and dystopia, two of my favorite niches. Think a more broken version of our world, where a select few become martyrs around puberty, typically eleven. These youth wander through cities, homeless but not hungry. They’re well respected and feared in the community. Their basic needs taken care of by the people they serve. All they have to do is eat their sins, literally consuming them and taking the karmic hit points rather than the sinner. This is why most of them die before they’re thirty.
As I plan to make this a serial, this first story will follow Jace as he meets his first female Eater, who’s running from the authorities. Soon after, he moves to the capitol and is dropped into a sick and twisted world where his life expectancy halves.
I’m unsure of the ending struggles, so I won’t pretend to know the specifics of where this is going, but I do know it will be dark. I don’t tend to write happy endings.
So, yeah. I hope you stay tuned as I write and edit for TRANSCENDENT, for the beautiful cover, and for the peeks into my new and repeat authors as they weave magical stories for us to enjoy.
What are you currently working on? Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear about them.
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