Writer Brain Happenings

Okay, so here's the thing: writer brain is weird. Sometimes, it grabs the most innocuous, unrelated things and turns them into a cohesive whole. You don't know why it exists, or how, but suddenly an idea is now fully formed and demands an outlet. That is currently my life. So now you're going to get a taste of it.

To set the stage...

I started writing Demon Kin as a fun book a long time ago. Mostly, I did it for the smut and blood scenes. Not even kidding. I think I was writing cute, loving things (probably Hawthorn or Avens) as my main project at the time, and I needed something gritty, dirty, sexy, and dark.

If I'm going to be honest here, I don't remember when I started it or how the idea even came to be. But it was there and I started it and now I'm over 37k words in. (Honestly, just had to check this because I thought I was still only just above 25k.)

Anyway, without going into too many details about it (because this post is still not about DK), I wanted to point out a fun little contrivance that occurred because of it. Now join me on a series of events that led to my first ever fan fiction of my own uncompleted book...

1. I named a completely irrelevant character in DK Noa and instantly loved the name

2. I introduced a character that goes by Musician because he "could make any demon sing."

3. Decided in that moment that Noa and Musician would end up together because I wanted a world with both of them in it

4. Made a notes doc on what I wanted to happen between them

5. Decided that they would first meet while embroiled in the climax of DK

6. Realized that these 2 could fulfill a wish I had of creating a couple that would fit well with Svrcina's song "Lover Fighter"

7. At some point, I sent a text to someone that ended with 'this and that'

8. I immediately texted my Wife that I now had to create fictional cats with the names This and That. (Her response was: DO IT)

9. I also decided that This and That would be the fur babies of Noa and Musician

10. I actually started writing 'Fanfic' in a folder inside the Notes folder in the scrivener document for DK

11. Somehow created the economic system that was missing from DK

12. Created a characteristic for the main species of DK that I was previously unaware of

(Fun fact: I still don't know Musician's birth name or what to call this story other than Fanfic.)

That's it. So far, that's how my brain has been firing. This is what my writing process is like. A whole lot of throwing words on the screen and finding out what they mean at a later date.

The true irony of this is that I get the best of both of my work processes. By writing Demon Kin, I get to enjoy the dark, gritty, murder-happy depravity of my MC. But by working on this fanfic, I also get to enjoy the meet-cute scenes and flirtation of a budding romance. For anyone who knows me, they know how much I need that polarity when I'm working.

Unfortunately, I'm starting to think I'm writing this fanfic better than my actual novel. Which, actually, isn't that bad considering how long ago I started DK and ceased working on it versus where I am as a writer now. It's also the prevalent issue when you consider I'm a pantser, not a plotter.

Right now, the goal for both stories is just to get the main plot down. Revision is where I can go back and work on all of my nuance, characterization, and other fun tidbits. For now, I'm just going to sit here and enjoy everything my characters are giving me.

And to reward you for sitting through my spastic process, I'm going to give you two snippets. One from Demon Kin and one from Fanfic.

Here's the one from DK: