A large component of my fiction writing is playing with "what ifs." I find creating an event or alternate existence that pushes the boundaries of accepted science gives me a unique opportunity it explore different morals. This is what has always drawn me to fantasy, horror, and science fiction. I like asking "what if" you were a vampire? What moral code would you subscribe to? Wouldn't it have to be different than those of humans.? And if so, doesn't that prove morals are relative? It must. It is that conclusion and its effects that I want to explore; I think doing so forces us to re-examine our own surroundings.

In my writing, I've played with time travel, what the modern-day return of Christ would be like, and various takes on myths (from voodoo to lycantropy to druidism to magic). I feel that when you go to these places and look at these people's lives, they force you to ask strange questions that hopefully result in arriving at answers that can translate to our lives in the "real world."

Maybe it's all window dressing. People are certainly more fascinated by a modern magician asking what his purpose is on earth rather than a construction worker doing the same. But maybe also that's our fault as bad writers. Yet it's not just that; it's about wonder, too. About the dreaming we had as children when we believed that anything was possible. Today, we only say such things are impossible. I for one think that's sad. At the very least, I want to wonder what if.

Which brings me to the actual updates. I have three stories currently in production. I just finished a new story about a lycanthrope (very raw, but my first authentically set in New Orleans story). I also have a story about a wizard in modern times that I adapted from a past story in a universe not my own (once fan fiction-and no, not Harry Potter, it's much darker). That one I feel might be the most polished already, but I'm waiting for Sarah's feedback. The third story I've spent the most time on recently, is about what I call an Immortal. In many ways, they are vampires, but I have modified the myths enough that they certainly disdain that term. However, those readers needing some set of classification would find that's the closest match. It's not that I'm pretending to have created something truly original, I'm just playing with myths and picking and choosing and changing what I will. It's the characters who'd be offended, not me.

Unfortunately, I feel as if I'm struggling with the story, tentatively titled "Immortal Twilight" (which is about my fifth dumb title-I'm not so worried about nailing that right now, though). It takes a new Immortal from one of my unpublished novels and picks up where the novel left off. He has only recently come into his Immortality, he is unexpectedly flush with power, and is struggling to find out who he is. It deals with the consequences of one of his worst actions in the novel, and explores his inability to control his raw emotions, all over a cynical view that human existence is a series of fabrications to soothe the weak mind. I like the concepts, but the writing is giving me trouble. I've given it several heavy edits, and it doesn't feel good yet.

I hope the fact that I continue on is a good sign. However, I fear that maybe if I was a better writer, I would have nailed it out of the gate more. It's not that I mind editing. As a former editor in chief of a journal, I'm used to it, and actually am cool with it. It's just hard to have three stories at the beginning of the work. I wish I had something great at the end of the process so I could see where I'm heading. Ah well, time will tell. [Sorry, that was so cliche, damn my foolish brain...]