Did I say regular updates throughout November? I DID, didn’t I?

Turns out that’s a bit harder than I’d hoped with everything going on in life and with my body. I’m still recovering from a spinal injury flare-up and my shoulder has decided that NOW is a really good time to protest too much typing.

Now, as in…when I’m trying to do a big push of words in a new story. Thanks shoulder.

I’m going to try to get in to see the chiro this week and that should help (couldn’t go any earlier b/c it can be dangerous with the lower spine, but I’m at a point with my shoulder where I need to risk it) but up till now I’ve basically had to prioritize which words get written and…those are on the book, not my generally long-winded updates here. (Sorry!)

I have been posting daily accountability updates to my Instagram Stories (and trying to remember to share them to my FB page as well) because those are just filming myself talk for a minute, no typing–bit easier on the bod.

But at any rate–it’s 12 days in, y’all deserve an update!

This book, y’all. Holy shit it’s good. I mean, maybe I’m biased but I am really enjoying discovering the story as I write it. It’s an exceptionally slow burn enemies to lovers–by which I mean we have just only now taken a few tiny steps on the road from enemies to lovers and we are not even at the end of Act 1 in my plot for book 1, and in Act 2 we will be taking some steps backwards. Then forwards, then backwards….

Oh, and also–while I was plotting it I realized this story is actually a trilogy, not a duology. I decided to plot the entire story in one go in Plottr, instead of creating a series and doing different books within it (an option in the software) because I wanted to see all the arcs on one long timeline. And while I was doing that, I realized…oh. There’s more to the story after the end of book 2.

So my initial plan was to stretch the Romancing the Beat beat sheet across books 1 and 2, ending with an HEA at the end of book 2 (along with wrapping up the fantasy plot line). Instead, it works better for the romance plot to stretch out across three books. Each book will have its own fantasy plot line feeding into a larger one (save the world).

And in doing this I realized that actually, the title for book 2 might be better as the title for book 3. So I’m glad I’ve only revealed the title for book 1! (Because I don’t know the third/middle title yet.)

Now. I’m hoping that I’m right about this because right now the plotlines for books 2 and 3 are very vague. This is usually how I plot–very strong stuff for the beginning and then vibes for the rest. Because as a discovery writer, I know I’m going to figure things out as I go.

For example, things I have figured out while writing Cave of Endless Stars (that I had NO IDEA about before starting):

✨MMC is half-vampire so this is now a vampire romantasy

✨It’s actually a LARGE age gap (I thought it was going to be a small one but it’s quite big–mind you, both characters come from long-lived races so maybe it’s just normal)

✨The entirety of MMC’s backstory, not just the vague notes I had listed down

✨The existence of magical artifacts that allow people to cross the Veil at will

and much more! I am continually learning about the world and characters as I write the story, so over-plotting is just a recipe for disaster.

Anyway, that means that books 2 and 3 are pretty vague right now and I won’t really know until I *get there* if there’s actually enough meat in each book’s “plot” to make a full book. So we’ll see!

Among the things I don’t know is how chapters will be divided–I’m writing in scenes and will be arranging them into chapters later–and how spicy/explicit this will be. I definitely thought it was going to be totally closed-door/fade-to-black, but the tension between the characters and the realities of the world are hinting that it might be a little bit spicier than that.

Regardless, I’m fairly certain it’s NOT going to be on the levels of spice as my Elemental Chemistry books. Fairly certain. And any spice that does show up will be…like, end of book 2 at the earliest. Till then it’s just gonna be sizzling tension.

And because it does not fit within any of my current worlds/series and is its own thing, this means when I start sharing chapters it will be to Sisterhood of the Wolf and up.

Sisterhood of the Wolf is *kind of* my low/no-spice tier but it’s ALSO the tier for stuff that doesn’t really fit with Chosen of Zarqon and Elemental Chemistry, as those two series (and their many planned spin-offs) happen within the same universe (the Aradian Universe). So it made far more sense to bunch them together, and then put the Borderlands Saga (which is avowed no-spice) into its own category.

I had always planned to also release a couple of my currently-back-burnered WIPs to Sisterhood of the Wolf whenever I was ready–I have a no-spice-planned LitRPG story I’m in the middle of as well as a definitely not-spicy…paranormal ghost story mystery thing??? It’s very cross-genre so. No clue.

At any rate, as with every other story, I will let you know ON THE STORY SYNOPSIS the level of spice you’re in for. So it won’t be a surprise. (well it will be a surprise to me but by the time I’m sharing it I’ll know enough to warn you.)

As for when chapters will start being shared…uh. No clue yet. Sorry.

WORD COUNT

This is the heart of the update, right? Not me rambling on about story and plot for however long XD

I hit 37,334 total yesterday, November 11. I wanted to do 11K on that day (11/11/11K) as it’s kind of a tradition from the old Nanowrimo forums and even though I’m not doing Nano officially anymore, I don’t think I ever managed it and wanted to give it a go.

I got 8,776 yesterday, which is amazing and also pushed me over 501K for the YEAR. Which, wow? I think 2024 might be my most productive/best year in terms of word count.

I probably would have hit 11K had I started writing earlier than 6:30pm. But it seems I trend towards writing more in the later part of the day–even now as I type this it’s 5:30pm and I haven’t yet started work on the book.

So, I should do that, as my goal today is 3K and I need to sleep earlier than 5am.

Wildly drafting,

Katje