Here we are, nearing the end of 2024, and once again I feel the need to apologize for not being diligent about updates and what’s been going on with me, and with all things writing.
To start: 2024 has shaped into, on a personal level, a better year than 2023 had been. By many other metrics it was once again a garbage year, but I feel like we’ve reached a point where we’ve all had several garbage years strung together for some time, and we should accept that this is more a garbage era.
So: Welcome to the Garbage Era! We’re going to try to make the best of things.
That out of the way, what has been 2024 been like, in terms of writing? Well, I put out two pieces of fiction this year. The novella, The Royal First Irregulars is the fourth of the Maradaine Saga Shorts, and it’s one that I’m very happy to have gotten done and out in the world. I didn’t get much chance to promote it as much as I could, but here is your second chance to check it out.
The other fiction is my short story, Chasing the Sun, which was part of the Traveling Light anthology we at Worldbuilding for Masochists put out, set in the world we’ve been building this year. I really enjoyed writing this story, and all the work that went into this anthology. I’m very proud about how it came together, and, frankly my unbiased opinion is that every story in it is great. I would especially point you at Lindsey Carmichael’s Merit the Resolute, an absolutely gorgeous story well worth the price of admission.
The big questions I’m sure several of you have is, “OK, Marshall, but what’s next? Where is the next novell? Especially a Maradaine novel?” And the answer is: going slowly, but not as slowly as it had gone in 2023.
I feel we’ve reached the point where I do owe some degree of apology. As I’ve said before, I needed to prioritize a new novel that was not Maradaine related, as much as my brain wanted to dive into An Unkindness of Uncircled Mages, I had to work something else first, a solid, sellable non-Maradaine novel.
Part of the problem was that I had a few in mind— I’ve mentioned them somewhat vaguely in the past— and without a locked in idea of which was the best choice, I wanted to write all of them, which, I’ve learned is not something I can do. I’ve definitely confirmed that I can only draft one novel at a time. Finally I settled on one that was tentatively titled The City of Eleven Arts, but something wasn’t working with that. I tried pivoting it in another direction, but, again, it wasn’t coming together. The blood wasn’t flowing, and that was the cast through all of 2023, and much of early 2024. I needed to reset.
So, I stopped and reassessed completely, taking that pivot idea and rebuilding it from scratch, outlining it fresh. And that, provisionally titled The Mansion of Fury, started really coming together. Finally, the work had blood flowing to it. It’s coming along strongly, and I expect the draft will be done sometime in January, provided Austin seasonal cedar allergies don’t shut my brain down. Once that’s drafted and polished, then I’ll start going to agents with it, and while that process is going on, feel comfortable about attacking Unkindness in earnest.
So, when will books actually come out? I can’t say, of course, especially with them not done. I hope soon, and I’m going to start being more active with communication on all these fronts with specific schedules and accountability. Back in the day, I was blogging every Monday and Thursday, and I dropped that because it was getting to be burdensome, and I felt I no longer had something to prove. Well, at this point I’m starint to feel maybe I do again, though I won’t go to bi-weekly. Maybe bi-monthly. Definitely monthly at the bare minimum.
The point is, I will be better about reminding you all what I’m up to, and doing my best to stay accountable for the work I’m doing.
But now, a quick recap of what I did in 2024, in the form of an eligibility post:
Novella: The Royal First Irregulars
Short Story: Chasing the Sun (appearing in Traveling LIght)
Anthology: Traveling Light: Tales of the Magical Gates (w/ Worldbuilding for Masochists/Cass Morris & Rowenna Miller)
Editor, Short Form: Traveling Light (w/ Cass Morris & Rowenna Miller)
Podcast/Fancast: Worldbuilding for Masochists (w/ Cass Morris & Natania Barron)
In the meantime, some links as reminders of the new and old stuff:
Traveling Light: https://bookshop.org/a/16841/9781958743409
The Royal First Irregulars: https://bookshop.org/a/16841/9781958743423
The Velocity of Revolution: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-velocity-of-revolution-marshall-ryan-maresca/21336936?ean=9781958743300
The Maradaine Saga to date: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-maradaine-saga
