So I got tagged for this by Erica Dakin, and since it’s a book-related meme thing instead of some random fluff piece, I am responding!

1. What’s the name of your current WIP?

I am currently working on The Splintered Eye (final content edit) and also on The Living Throne (rough draft).

2. Ready to do a cover reveal?

I can show you the current progress, sure.

For The Splintered Eye, we’re only this far:

Color rough/discussion stage.  We’re actually a little bit further (moved it to more of a close-up, adjusted the flower upward, changed the design of the eye) but I forgot to save the link my artist friend sent.

As for The Living Throne, this is where my other artist friend left off, when I originally asked her to draw one of my ideas:

The details are no longer correct, but it’s a good base for the card that this will eventually be.  All of these images will be on tarot-type cards, and this picture is actually for the back cover of The Living Throne — unless I decide it should be on the front.  Choices, choices…

3. How many words are you into it?

The Splintered Eye is technically finished, barring edits.  If you want to know how far I’m into the edit, I’m at 80k out of 236k words.

The Living Throne is currently at 135k words.  It’s gonna be a big one.

4. Goal word count by the end of the week?

No specific word count.  I’m averaging two chapters a day with the edit, and book 3 is on hold until I finish that.

5. Goal word count for the entire manuscript?

Heh.  I don’t need a goal.  I probably need an editor.  Good thing these are primarily meant for e-distribution.

6. What genre does your WIP fall within?

Fantasy-adventure, somewhere between sword-and-sorcery and high fantasy, with occasional excursions into cosmic horror.  So just say Fantasy.

7. When would you like to publish this project?

Next month, for The Splintered Eye, but I must wait for the cover art to be completed.  End of the year/early next year for book 3?  Like I said, it’s in rough draft, so it will need a few more go-throughs before it’s ready.

8. Go to page five of your manuscript and pick a random sentence to share with us!

How about a random paragraph?  From The Splintered Eye:

The wolf nudged his leg and looked expectant, and he sighed.  “Not gonna shift?”  In response, the wolf bent down to chew ice from between his furry toes.  “Yeah, I know it’s cold,” Cob said, used to the one-sided conversations, “but I’m not a city sort.  I mean, I know you’re not either, but y’still better-traveled than me…”

From The Living Throne:

The waning daylight glinted off her eyes.  All else was hidden in the depths of the furs except for the tip of one boot; from that evidence he managed to gather that she was sitting cross-legged, hunched forward slightly like an old woman, and probably glaring.  That had always been her default expression.

9. Will this WIP turn into a series?

It already is!

10. What has been the hardest challenge in working on this WIP?

While I already knew where I was going at the end of Book 1, it was sort of an encapsulated story — there was the overarching plot that reached beyond it, but the initial conflict was resolved.  I had to figure out how to drive my main character, Cob, forward in an organic way even when he wasn’t being directly pursued, so Book 2 had to be about how he embraces the journey, even if he still doesn’t believe in the ‘quest’, because he has created his own quest.  It makes him a darker character than he might be otherwise, because instead of being motivated by what he’s been told is the Right Thing To Do, he disbelieves that and prefers to follow this path in order to get revenge.  Same path, vastly different psychology.  Hopefully I’m doing it well.

As for Book 3, I’m only about a third of the way into it and already I’m juggling a lot of threads, plots and subplots that I hope to be able to resolve neatly at the end, even if the overarching plot continues into the second half of the series.  (Yes, it’s more than three books.  I can’t help myself.)  Making a solid Book 3 climax and a satisfying coda that nevertheless feeds into the second half of the series is probably going to be difficult, and I both look forward to and dread it.

11. What has been your favourite part of working on this WIP?

I just love expanding on the characters’ personalities and histories, having them banter and learn more about the world.  I could do pages and pages of them sitting around a campfire chit-chatting and playing silly games; after all, they do that in my head constantly.  But I’m trying to restrain myself.  I don’t want the books to be 800 pages.  Maybe I’ll post some outtakes some time.

12. Any special treat planned for when you finish the final draft of your WIP?

My usual Great Accomplishment treat is going out for sushi, but we’ll see.

Not going to tag anyone else, but this was kinda fun.  Thanks, Erica!