If there’s one thing I’m learning, it’s that I really know nothing at all when it comes to what readers will want. Throughout 2017 I made an effort to produce a variety of short stories in order to get my name out there as an author, and although I am not yet a household name, I’d like to think I’ve caught the eyes of a few of my literary companions.
For 2018, besides working on edits of GENMOS Book 2 and NOBILIS: Seedling, I vowed that I would produce AND submit 4 novellas.
Tomorrow is the start of the 8th month of 2018, and as of last night, I had written 3, submitted them each to different publishers throughout the weeks of July, and have already signed 1 to a new publishing house. ( Kyanite Press. And, like Bryan Hagan’s podcast, I am the debut author from outside the company to sign with them. Let me say this: FIRST! )
This left me with one novella left to complete my goal. Gathering 4 plots together, I presented them in polls to the internet, Twitter, Facebook, and yes, my day-job’s coworkers.
The first option was a post apocalyptic retelling of the story of Christ, using returning dreams to the sleepless as an allegory for relieving sins. It got three votes.
The second option was a comedy based on hapless individuals becoming professional “shaft-scrubbers”… a.k.a. digital post-editing artists. It still promises to be the cleanest crass comedy ever.
The third was to really knuckle down on the “Spaceballs of Erotica.” That got 2 of the votes.
The remaining 45 votes, so for those not doing the math, that’s 90%, making it the POPULAR majority, was to combine Sex, humans, and Centaurs into a story I jokingly titled, “Fifty Shades of Neigh.”
My reasoning was this. Erotica sells. I know a majority of ladies who love horses, and what’s a centaur but a half-naked half-human pasted onto the body of a horse. It looked horribly humorous, and so I presented it as a joke.
Well, the joke is now on me.
True to my word I began worldbuilding. That’s when the joke really hit back. Gone was the goofball planned-pr0n. Hello, was a serious, alternate-Edwardian-historic crop-opera romantic mythological erotica. Gone was the punographic goop fest, now replaced with a much more serious plot of intrigue and family betrayal.
As of today, only just over two weeks in, and I have already over 25k words written, and my test readers have all come back with glowing reviews and words of encouragement, ranging from “It was so steamy I read it with one hand.” To “Wow, I was not expecting such a cool and genuine plot.”
Also, this is the second work where I have had publishers claim interest BEFORE I finished the first draft. When I made the joke about smut selling, I didn’t expect it to be this true.
Oh how the wheel has turned.
Anyways, let’s see if I can finish this piece soon.
Wish me luck. I was once a neigh-sayer, now I’m inscribing equine erotica
I would very much like to see this. Why? God knows. I wouldn’t be as much interested in the ‘erotica’, but I’ve always loved centaurs and the world sounds fascinating.
That being said, I dare you to be anatomically accurate. (Laugh!)
Oh, it’s worse then you imagine. I actually redesigned the Centaurs for certain erotic purposes.