Of Plot Twists and Pen Names...

There's a meme going around on Facebook right now that says; when life throws you for a loop, just yell plot twist and keep on going. At first it made me laugh, but now it just makes me twitchy because life has thrown us several plot twists as of late, some good and some not.

(Image originally from here) 

Remember how I said that last week was really awesome? Well, this was promptly followed by a few days that were just so full of crap, that I was tempted to pull out the sage and smudge the house and myself and my husband to get rid of any bad juju that might be following us around. First I received a traffic ticket, then my husband was laid off, and now I'm suffering from a fresh cold that's currently in the 'nose is stuffed up that you can't breathe' stage.

However, unlike the last time life took a turn for the worst, I am not letting this affect my writing. In fact I am doing the opposite - I'm throwing myself into my writing in the hopes of getting something finished, beta read and approved, and published ASAP.

Since TUO is no where near completion and neither is the Descendants, I've been focusing on two of my other projects. Both are short stories that I plan to serialize. One has already been re-written three times because the first two times were just not working out. The other one was something I wrote just for fun, and originally took place way later in it's series. Now it's been bumped up to the beginning.

The only problem with these two stories is that they are very adult in nature, feature explicit scenes and language, and are so very different from TUO and the Descendants that any comparison is like night and day. As a result I'm wondering if I should publish them under my name or if I should use a pen name to prevent any confusion.

I remember reading a blog by another indie author awhile back who said she did that. She had one pen name that she used for her romances, and another that she used for young adult stuff. This was because she was afraid a kid might pick up one of her romances because they thought it was another young adult book. Another author I know through faire also has one name that she uses for her romances, and a second name she uses for her more intense erotica. And then of course there's JK Rowling and Stephen King, two of my writing heroes, who have both used pen names.

What are your thoughts on the matter, dear reader?

Well, it's that time again folks... time for WIPPET WEDNESDAY!!!!

WIPpet Wednesday is led by KL Schwengel. To participate, share a snippet of the WIP you are working on that somehow correlate's with the date. For example, since today's date is 9/25 you could share 9 paragraphs from chapter 25, or 25 sentences from chapter 9. You can also add, subtract, multiple, divide, or do any combination of the above to the date to come up with a number of words, sentences, or paragraphs to share. Then post the snippet you've chosen on your blog, and share the link to your blog at this linkie thingee, and you're good to go!

Since I haven't worked on TUO or the Descendants recently, I don't have anything new to share from either of those projects. I'm also not comfortable sharing anything from the new projects I've been focusing on just yet until I figure out what I'll be publishing them under. So I'll be sharing some more from my Dragonriders of Pern fanfic, Between Two Worlds.

This is 21 paragraphs from Chapter 11. As I explained previously, Domick has somehow ended up on our world, at a renaissance faire. The owner of the faire has taken pity on him, and is giving him a place to stay and work. Norah, the owner's niece, has been showing him all the ropes and teaching him what he needs to survive in this crazy world.

Norah woke Domick earlier than normal the next day. She knocked on his door, calling through it that it was time to get up and startling him awake.

He blinked at the ceiling in sleepy surprise. He was used to waking early at the Harper Hall, but he had grown accustomed to the later hours Pembroke favored; to suddenly have to wake up so early again was quite a shock. While the sun was up, the light it was casting through his windows was still dim. He watched for a moment as the dust motes danced through the rays in lazy circles, and, for a moment, they almost lulled him back to sleep.

The pounding on his door came again. “If you’re not up in five minutes, I will toss a bucket full of water on you.” She threatened. “And I will make sure it’s freezing cold.”

That threat got him moving. He started dressing in a clean pair of the jeans he had been loaned, but then he remembered that today was Friday. After days of reviewing prices and money he would finally be working at the Wharf stand today. He would need to wear the other clothing - garb, Norah called it - consisting of trousers, shirt, and a vest called a doublet. It was looser than the other clothing he had, made from more natural materials, and handmade judging from the stitching that held it together. While it was still different than what he wore on Pern, it was closer than anything else he had seen here, and he relaxed under it’s familiar weight.

Norah was in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee, waiting patiently for him to wake up. Her garb was far more somber in hue than his: her underskirt was black, the top skirt was a roughly woven beige and black striped fabric, and the odd laced vest she wore was a dark grey. Normally her chest was hidden by the t-shirts she favored, but today the collar of her shirt had been pulled open wide to display the decolletage her vest pushed up. To find her assets displayed so openly was quite a shock - a welcome one, but a shock nonetheless - and he found himself staring a little longer than what might be considered appropriate. He quickly glanced away and poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot brewing on the counter before she could catch that he had been gawking at her like an addle brained apprentice.

A bucket full of water sat in the sink - just like she had promised. He eyed it warily, “Surely you weren’t actually going to dump that on me.”

“Maybe.” He stared at her and she smiled and then shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t have, because then I would have had to help you move your mattress into the yard so it could dry, hang your sheets out on the line, and we don’t have time for that. But it was tempting.”

“Ah.” He sat down at the table next to her, pouring in sweetener and a spice labeled cinnamon until the coffee more closely resembled the klah he was used to. “Do you usually have to resort to such threats to get people up in the morning?”

“Sometimes - Mud can sleep through anything, and Marcus can be just as bad.”

“Marcus is your son, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s staying with my mother for Spring Break. He’ll be back next week.”

“Spring Break?” He asked, unfamiliar with the term.

“Um, kids here go to school until they are 18 or graduate the 12th grade. Some schools go from September to June with breaks in December and in the Spring to break up the monotony. Marcus goes to a year round school, so he goes for two months or so and then he gets a month off.”

“Ah.” On Pern harpers taught the children every day, except for rest days and gather days. He found himself wondering how the children did not forget their lessons.

“How are your hands this morning? Still cramping?”

“Better, thank you.” He took a sip of his coffee. “The ointment gave me was... interesting.” First it had been hot one moment, and then cold the next. And it had smelled strange too - sharp, cool, and oddly refreshing. While he had gone to Oldive in the past for various liniments to help with this ache or that pain, usually they did not smell nearly as nice.

“Good - just be careful to wash your hands off after you use it. Sometimes the... effects can transfer to other... parts of your body if you’re not careful.”

“I noticed.”

Norah snorted and choked on her coffee. Domick took a step towards her side but she waved him away. “I’m fine. I’m fine.” She coughed to cover her embarrassment and clear her throat. “C’mon. Enough talking - there’s work to be done.”

You can read more WIPpet Wednesday Posts here.
You can read more of Between Two Worlds here and here.