October 2021 Writing Update

 

This post is coming five days late, but for good reason! November is the month that NaNoWriMo takes place in, and I've decided to participate (unofficially).

For those reasons, I was hoping to spend most of October working on my podcast, The Pirates of Sissa, and polishing Marie/Elise up for (possible) self-publication in 2022. I wanted to clear all of that off my plate so that I can focus on The Pirates of Sissa for NaNoWriMo (at the time that I made this decision, in the beginning of October, I wasn't even aware of Writathon yet).

But I ended up having some health issues during the month of October, and for the better part of the month, I was completely distracted by these issues. I didn't get much writing done, in fact. I was going to the doctor often and my concern over my own health kept me from focusing on what I wanted to work on for October. All is well now, but at the time, working on my projects, namely The Pirates of Sissa and Marie/Elise, felt extremely difficult. 

However, I was able to jot down some scenes for a solarpunk murder mystery idea that I had, and from there I decided that that would be the project I'd work on for NaNo and Writathon. 

My entry for NaNo and Writathon is therefore with a solarpunk murder mystery book idea that aims to merge more traditional detective fiction with a cool futuristic sci-fi setting in which the world has cleaned up its act. Environmentally, at least! I am also using this as my official entry to the RR Writathon, which overlaps with NaNoWriMo but runs about a week longer and has a slightly bigger word count to go along with that additional time.

I made some flashcards and got a plot going, and I realized that it would be a manageable story to complete for the two challenges if I could keep up a pace of around 1,600 to 2,000 words per day of writing.

The cover I made quickly for my NaNo/Writathon project.

 

The story is called Murder in Heliopolis. It follows a detective living in the futuristic eco-city of Heliopolis in the year 2111, who must solve the city's first murder in five years. Heliopolis is almost completely run by an AI system called PATET, but when it becomes clear that PATET cannot identify the fingerprints on the murder weapon, Detective Laith Alazraq has to track down the killer the old-fashioned way.

I'll be working on this story almost exclusively for the next month, but I will continue with my weekly uploads for The Beast of Ildenwood, which I aim to update every Sunday.