Tag Archives: new stuff

What do coal and the Catholic church have in common?

Posted on by Connor W.

The letters C, O, A, and L, yes, but more than that, they’re the current focus of my research. I’ve gotten distracted by something new (again, I know), and it’s… Well, it’s kind of annoying is what it is.

After my Hornblower marathon, I’m kind of fascinated by the French Revolution/Napoleonic Wars era/War of 1812 portion of history. So my new thing is set in Brittany, France, right around the end of the 18th century/beginning of the 19th. Bretons tend(ed) to be devout Catholics, and basically all I know about the history of the church’s arrival in the area is bupkes. There’s the remains of a beautiful abby near Clohars-Carnoët, France, but outside of inspiration… Yeah.

I need to know how long the church has been in the area, when it arrived, when formal confessions began being heard/taken, whether your typical farmer would attend mass every day/week, how often they’d go to confession, etc. etc. etc. (Also, the standard form of confession would be nice; I’m fringe Episcopalian, we’re not big on bureaucracy so I’ve never done a formal confession.)

As for the coal mining, all I really wanted to know was whether or not one of my characters would be in any danger of being an underground coal miner if he was currently-as-of-the-conversation-in-the-story living in Wales. So far, I think the answer is yes, but I was immediately distracted by finding out what ‘drift mining’ involves. And then I decided to write this… And now I’m going to try to get back to actually writing.

(although I am thinking about writing another post for a different blog… No! Must write fiction! Now!)

You know, Brain, the one with the idea usually does the work.

Posted on by Connor W.

So why can’t I decide/figure out if I want to do a historical or a futuristic-y SF thing? I know it’s going to involve pirates, in some capacity; it will also possibly involve either indentured servitude or pottery. Or both.

Basically, so far, all I’ve got is a chronically sea-sick young man nicknamed Cabriti who is exceeding glad to be back on dry land and a burning desire to do more than that.

NaNo and New Stuff

Posted on by Connor W.

I decided that I didn't have the attention span for NaNo, this year. Besides, I didn't have any ideas for anything new until the night before last, and nothing that I've been working on sounded like a good candidate for continuing/expanding. 

So that's the mildly-disappointing news. The good news is, as I mentioned, I thought of something new. 

It's definitely on the paranormal side of the aisle, though there isn't much in the way of romance at the moment. (Actually… It starts with a bank robbery, then goes straight to the discovery of an affair and a divorce. I have plans for more, like leave-home-on-a-semi-quest more, but I'm trying to be casual about it. Plots are skittish.)

The paranormal part comes in like so: Dallas, the main characters, can summon and banish entities from other realities/dimensions (I haven't quite worked that bit out), which everyone refers to as Others. They're kind of like demons, only without the theological implications. (At least at present, anyhow.)

As for the rest of the plot… Well, his ex-husband is kind of a jerk, there's a kid with a crush on him (though neither of them know it, yet) AND a secret, and an ambiguously-sexed Other who wants nothing more than to sleep with Dallas (not that that is going to happen any time soon)… And who knows what else. 

It's pretty fun, so far, even if it's as rough as a rough draft can be.