Writing Progress

I am very, very definitely not doing NaNoWriMo this year. (I essentially never have; I honestly don't see how I could.) But I have been writing, and I am making some progress.

I currently have three projects on my mind. I'm not sure if that's how everybody does it, but I seem to make better progress if I can kind of rotate through them, or switch back and forth if I need to take a break from one of them. And despite all the well-meant writing advice in the world -- and there's an awful lot of writing advice in the world -- I've come the conclusion that actually the only correct way to write is to find what works for you and your current project(s), and do that. Whatever it is, do that. However much you can manage, do that. Everything else is a distraction.

So, the current projects:

• The Chained Man - Bastion lives in servitude to his necromantic master, until a fatal mistake and a chance encounter cause him to question everything he thinks he knows. Dark fantasy with a bit of intrigue.
• The Nameless Prince - (I really need a better title for this.) Somber, a foreigner and runaway who has taken shelter in the Patrol of the Imperial city of Dairilos, wakes up to discover that his newly-adopted city has fallen under a curse... a curse that is somehow connected to him. Dark fantasy, bordering on horror.
• Random High Fantasy - (Yeah, this one also needs a better title.) As the youngest prince of Norguard, Devothin Farstrider spends his time with the hunters who protect the border kingdom from encroaching beasts and tribes of beastmen. When the High King calls for champions to protect his daughter as she makes a sacred pilgrimage to the lost temple, Devothin and his siblings are sent to answer the call. Hijinks ensue. High Fantasy, with an emphasis on magic as an aspect of divine favor.

I'm making the most progress on the Random High Fantasy project, I think because this is kind of my natural element. (Yes, that also means that in a lot of ways it's the most, um... generic? genre-ic? ...of the three, but I'm having fun writing it and I think it'll be fun to read. Devothin is unenthusiastic about being dragged into this quest, dubious about any prospect for the royalty of a provincial border kingdom to make an advantageous marriage with the High King's only daughter, and not overly impressed with the other groups of royalty who were also selected to accompany the princess. On top of that, the Shadow of the Princess (a sort of cross between bodyguard, assassin, and lady-in-waiting) seems to have taken a particular interest in him...

So, yeah: it's not much. (Well, maybe.) But it's progress, and that's not nothing.