Idea Growth: Hunters of the Moon

The growth of Hunters of the Moon was about as different from that of Darkness as it's possible to get. I had been collecting info on a variety of anthology submission calls. One asked for werewolves in an urban fantasy setting. I pulled it out and mulled the idea for a couple of days.

The seed of plot I started with involved Sara, the Hunters, and the tattoos used in the story to control the shift from human to werewolf. I also scribbled the last line of the story in one of my notebooks. That line remains almost intact--I think I changed a word or two. There wasn't much else to it when I sat down to write.

When I wrote this story, I just took a pen and a notebook to Starbucks and scribbled the entire first draft in a couple of hours. The other plot elements fell into place as I was writing, and by the time I was halfway through, I knew exactly how the plot was going to wrap up.

Until I got there. I reached a spot in the story where we discover something important about the werewolf Sara has been pursuing. I started to write the sentence that would reveal the secret--and then I stopped.

I stopped because my brain was screaming a completely different sentence at me, one I'd never considered. I sat there for a minute just staring at the paper. Inside my head, things went something like this:

"Wait, what?"
"Yes! JUST WRITE IT!"
"Seriously? But I thought it was--"
"IT ISN'T! LISTEN TO ME FERPETESAKE!"
"Seriously?"

In the end, my brain got its way. I figured I'd go ahead and write the ending that way and then change it later if it didn't work. But it did work. So I didn't change it.

I submitted the story to the anthology, and it was rejected. Instead, it's found a home at Etopia.

Have you ever had a story that surprised you like that? If so, please share. I'd hate to think I'm the only one who sits at Starbucks while weird conversations go on in my head.

Idea Growth: Darkness

My short story, Darkness, arrived from Etopia Press on December 16th. This story has a long history, and for me an odd one.

I can't remember when the idea for Darkness first came to me. It's been a long time ago. When I found the story on my hard drive a few months ago, it looked like it might have originated with a writing prompt back when I was an active participant in the writing community on CompuServe. (Yes, I used CompuServe. I'm old. Get over it.)

However, there were two different versions of the story. One is the version that's coming out from Etopia. The other has much the same backstory and the characters have the same names, but the story has a much lighter tone and a very different plot.

At one point in its development, though, Darkness was a screenplay. I can't even remember now if the screenplay came before the short stories or vice versa. There are a couple of version of the that approach floating around, as well.

The thought that hit me the hardest when I started sorting through these old files was how much I'd allowed myself to play with these ideas. Now I tend to focus on a story and push it through to the end, rather than putting it into different molds to see how it fits. In away, this could be seen as a sign of growth in my writing. In another way, though, it seems sad that I spend so little time now indulging in that sense of play. Maybe I should try that approach again and see what falls out.

Darkness is available on Kindle
and Nook

New story from KC Myers coming Tomorrow!

Coming tomorrow, a short story about urban werewolves.

What happens when the call of the forest overcomes the call to be human?

In the modern world, werewolves must find the balance between their human and animal natures. When this balance is broken, the consequences can be devastating.

Sarah is a wolf who has chosen to join the hunters of her own kind. These hunters ensure that rogue wolves aren’t allowed to kill the humans among whom they live. But Sarah’s current hunt is the most difficult of all.

From Etopia Press.

New Short Story from KC Myers

KC Myers, my non-romantic pseudonym (don't tell her I called her that--she'll take it wrong), has just published a fantasy short story called The Dragon at the Top of the World. It's available at Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords.

Here's a sneak peek:

The wind whipped down the side of the mountain like death, knifing through five layers of fur and wool to lash Fox’s skin. He lifted his hand and moved numb fingers inside his icy mitten to reset the slipped warming spell, clinging to the bow of the dogsled with one hand. The sled went on, bumping over the uneven surface, the runners shifting beneath Fox’s feet.

He had to try three times before the spell set. Stunted pine trees to the left and right told him why. He was nearing timberline. Once the trees were gone, Fox could depend on nothing.

The feel of the sled runners under his feet changed as the snowpack became icier. The vibrations shot up Fox’s legs to his knees. Ahead of him, the dark line of seventeen dogs dug in and kept going. Strands of the russet hair that had gained him his mage name escaped Fox’s hood and whipped into his face.

Fox smiled a little, adjusting his stance on the sled runners. At least the dogs were still game to run. He himself was running short on stamina, and even shorter on optimism.

Maybe it was time to turn back. He’d hoped—foolishly, perhaps—that he would find the dragon before he reached the magically debilitating timberline. He should have known better. If it were that easy, someone would have found it before him—Hopping Mouse, or the Great Gray Turtle who had lived two hundred years. Why would he succeed where these far greater wizards had failed? He was, after all, barely thirty, and only a small red Fox.

But he was a fox with a question. He wanted to know why he had been forced to trade his soul for his magic. He wanted to know what had happened to it after he’d given it up. And, most of all, he wanted to know if he could have it back.

New Short Story from Etopia Press

Some additional new news--I have a new short story coming out in the near future that is not a romance. It's an urban fantasy werewolf story with a much darker tone than most of what I write. For this story, and others that aren't romances, I'm launching a new pseudonym. These stories will be published under KC Myers. I've added a page to this blog, and will be adding a page to my website as well where you can keep up on news regarding these stories. I hope you'll check them out.