So, I’ve finally sent the beta readers their copies of Tiphareth Rising a couple hours ago. In this post, I want to announce my next projects, which I am hoping to complete in the first half of NaNoWriMo. I am also going to touch on a couple of things about Tiphareth Rising that I’ve learned since the last post. My method of how I’m going to give Tiphareth Rising the full six weeks it actually deserves is simple: I’m going to distract myself with a shitload of work.
So, what is my new project about?
Well, my project I’m starting next is actually based on a short story I read. It’s about a guy who gets turned into a woman when pretending to be a woman for a friend who needs a date to a wedding so the friend can remain in the closet. This being permanent is not what this guy signed up for. It’s my foray into the genre of fantastique and sci-fi. I’m calling it Lyric’s Quest.
After that, I have a more mainstream romance novel. The working title is Hearts of Gold on the Yukon River. And after both of those are written? I’m gonna finish up Project Shoulder to Shoulder too. All in the next six weeks.
What is fantastique?
Well, fantastique is essentially the intrusion of supernatural phenomena into an otherwise realist narrative. The phenomena are not only unexplained but inexplicable from the reader’s point of view. Tzvetan Todorov describes this as being between le merveilleux, where the supernatural is accepted and entirely reasonable, and l’étrange, where supernatural phenomena turn out to have a realist explanation after all.
My hope is to bring more English-born fantastique literature while also exploring and fucking with gender norms.
A wild pen name appears!
With a novel this… peculiar, I think it stretches my intentions with my author brand under my own name. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about limiting this site to writing romance, fantasy, and romantasy. So, it’s time to introduce a new author brand. Élodie Gay is my author brand for weird fiction, fantastique, horror that crosses some lines, and things that aren’t as… well… mass market friendly. So, I’m going to be spending six weeks practising how to write in fluent unhinged valley girl with the blog along with writing my first attempt at English-language fantastique.
With that though, you can check out the project kickoff here at elodie.gay. There’s also an About page too, if you want to see the Valley Girl tone I’m trying to adopt for this author brand. Lord, beer me strength.
A couple of things about Tiphareth Rising
Okay, so the release announcement date? 2027? That might have been a bit ambitious, and I would like to fully disclose why. Truth be told, I can’t afford developmental editing. I also refuse to half-ass Tiphareth Rising. However, I don’t want it to languish either. So, after considerable thought, I am going to prepare to submit it to traditional publishers.
My original reticence towards traditional publishers was simple: they tend to be slow. As someone who has a huge back catalogue of work, I don’t want to spend a decade working around publishers’ release calendars.
It was my sincere hope to get Tiphareth Rising out in 2027. I felt that it was doable. But, my eyes were bigger than my bank account on setting that expectation. I admit, I can’t do this and publish a version I can be proud of without professional editing. And I want to be honest rather than mislead you. It is my sincere hope that Tiphareth Rising is published as quickly as possible. I will work hard to make sure this happens. Even though Colleen Hoover seems to be able to publish crap and make a shitload of money, she is not the writer I aspire to be.
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