Apparently the last time I shared a writing update with you here on the blog was… *checks* …in January. What?! OVER HALF A YEAR AGO? You might be wondering, “Did Tracey ever finish The Brightest Thread? Is she even writing at all anymore, or did she close her laptop and take up dragon taming instead?” Well, if you’ve been around Instagram, you probably know the answer to both of those questions… but only in part. (And it might be best to leave the dragon taming to Hiccup.)
I am here to give you the full story and tell you that YES, I finished The Brightest Thread, and YES, I’m writing something new!
The Brightest Thread
A New Step in a Long Journey
Last January I announced that I had finished TBT, my Sleeping Beauty-inspired tale of dream-walking. And… I might have lied. (Though at the time I thought I was telling the truth.) Turns out there was a liiiiittle bit more fine-tuning to do.
You see, I’ve had trouble with TBT’s opening for YEARS. Between feedback from professional critiques, beta readers, and my closest writer friends, I rewrote that first chapter at least half a dozen times. None of them worked, so I scrapped all those versions and went back to the original. I loved that one best and it felt truest to the story. Yes, it still had some issues, but I wrote them off as pre-querying jitters and tried to ignore it.
Then in February, I attended the Unleash Your Story virtual writing retreat (a Realm Makers thing). And the speaker, Allen Arnold, said some things that sparked fresh ideas about how to fix that opening.
A couple months later, I had a NEW sparkly first chapter on my hands. I’m a lot more confident that this one hits the right notes and paints an accurate picture of what to expect in the rest of the book. And the best part is? I got to recycle my original first chapter as a flashback later in the story! 😀
Since then, I’ve written TBT’s query letter and synopsis (both of which were not easy, but all veteran authors assure us newbies that’s normal), researched more agents… and yes, dear quester, I HAVE BEGUN QUERYING.
As of this blog post, I’ve amassed all of two rejections, along with some radio silence. But it’s still early in the game. And far from discouraged, I’m glad to have begun receiving rejections. It means this story is moving forward. I’m putting it out there. And in the meantime…
NEW STORY.
(Oh, but first, if you’re new around here and are curious about The Brightest Thread, I had way too much fun making an aesthetic reel on Instagram HERE.)
Welcome to Absurdity
Uncharted Territory
So what is this new story and what is it about?
Welcome to Absurdity is a lot of probablys and maybes, that’s what it is.
It’s a YA psychological thriller… probably. (But it might be NA instead. And it might become a horror novel sans the typical hopeless endings of that genre.)
It’s also a murder mystery… maybe.
It’s Ted Dekker’s Thr3e meets The Maze Runner meets Sharon Cameron’s The Dark Unwinding… and it’s also what I wished Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children had been.
It’s a story about perception, belief, and reality. It’s about the lies we tell ourselves and the prison those thoughts so easily become.
The original seed of Welcome to Absurdity has been quietly growing in the back of my mind for seven years. But this summer I’m FINALLY fleshing out the concept.
The story’s atmosphere and characters are developing easily. I know the cast is all trapped in a massive manor-turned-asylum. I know many of the characters’ idiosyncrasies.
But the plot? Oh, that plot. It’s a stubborn little beastie.
I’m generally a plantser—I like having my story’s main landmarks planned and a list of bullet points to map out the next chunk of the journey. I find it easier to write with SOME idea of where I’m going. But for Welcome to Absurdity—knowing it’s going to be trippy and mind-bending and that I have an unreliable narrator on my hands—I sense that I need to lean into the pantsing side of me. *gulp*
So here I am, writing things out of order (which I’ve NEVER done before), putting more question marks than periods in my brainstorm notebook, and slowly sliding one foot in front of the other in the dark room that is this story.
And you know what?
It’s fun.
Also mildly terrifying—but in the BEST way possible. I think stretching outside of my comfort zone is exactly what I’m meant to do right now.
No More Counting Steps
One other thing is different about this new book—and it goes against the grain of my Enneagram One-ness, my task-oriented nature, and love of to-do lists.
I’m not counting words.
I mean… yes, I do notice my approximate wordcount. It’s hard not to. But I’m trying my utmost to NOT use that as a measuring stick of progress. Partly because I’m nurturing my writing self back to health after a year or two of burnout, and partly because of something else Allen Arnold brought up at last month’s Realm Makers conference (which I attended online!). I’m paraphrasing here, but he said something along the lines of this:
When you come back from vacation and someone asks you, “How was your trip?”, you don’t tell them, “Oh, it was great! I walked 5,000 steps every day!” No, you tell them about the places you went and the things you saw. You tell them about the experience you had.
The number of steps taken or words written each week isn’t a measure of how good a story is or what kind of experience I’m having as the writer. A better thing to ask myself at the end of each writing session is, “How do I feel about today’s session? And did I do it with God?”
So there you have it.
Welcome to Absurdity is taking me into a new genre, a new writing method, AND a new progress-tracking method (or lack thereof, haha). I’m still hunting in the dark for this story’s heart, but I know when I find it, everything is going to come alive!
And as much as I want to offer snippets to you here or post all the details on social media… I’m taking Tosca Lee’s advice to write my first draft with the door closed. Because this story needs to be more than unsettling background music and spooky window dressings. It needs to go deeper. I need to go deeper, and that can’t happen if I offer this fledgling story to the world too soon.
But rest assured, you’re still along with me for the journey, and I can’t wait to keep dropping story crumbs and sharing pieces of my heart with you in the meantime!
Speaking of story crumbs… I made ANOTHER aesthetic reel on Instagram for Welcome to Absurdity and ahhh, it makes me so inspired! You can watch it HERE.
Thoughts? Questions? Any dragon taming tips for me juuust in case Welcome to Absurdity eats me alive? Let’s talk!
P.S. If you want regular updates on how Welcome to Absurdity is shaping up, I’d love to add you to my monthly newsletter! (Sign up here.) You’ll also get things like my personal reading recommendations and other bookish tidbits!
Giiiirl! I’m still just absolutely THRILLED TBT has gone off into the wide world. The day I get to hold a physical copy of that gorgeous tale in my hands will be one of the BEST days of my life. And it WILL happen one day! I love your attitude of rejection as well. There IS something strangely satisfying about having those rejection letters in our inboxes. It’s just proof we’re pursuing our dreams with full force, and there is no failure in that!
And EEP. The more and more I hear about Welcome to Absurdity, the more excited I get about it! I’m especially excited to hear it has some Miss Peregrine vibes. I wanted to like that story so bad but…meh. It fell short for me. So having a Tracey Deck Miss Peregrine-esque story? Um. YES PLEASE!!!
I feel you so hard on being an Enneagram One and wanting ALL the planning and organization. I’m a One as well, plus Judgers in the MBTI also tend to be all about organization, so we both doubly need ALL the to-do lists and roadmaps. I have tried to fight my pantsing tendencies so hard because, well, I want organization and a PLAN. But my stories come out so, so much more interesting when I let them tell themselves. I’m learning to embrace that and it IS fun. As nice as it is to have a detailed, well-thought-out roadmap, letting the story grab you by the hand and take you on a wild, unexpected adventure is such a blast and really keeps the creativity process fascinating and fresh. So good on you for catering to this story’s needs of discovering writing! I know it’s going to be wonderful. <3
When that day happens, I’ll probably teleport to your front door out of sheer magical HAPPINESS and we can squeal together! Same for when YOUR beautiful stories make a splash in the world! <333 And about the satisfying rejection letters--absolutely. Each "no" is paving the way toward a "yes." ^_^
Ahhh, girl, your enthusiasm *always* inspires me! 😀 I very much wanted to adore Miss Peregrine as well, but I think I had misled expectations getting into it. And without really meaning to turn those unmet expectations into anything of my own, Welcome to Absurdity IS shaping up to be that crazy cast/creepy setting/scary stuff story I had wanted. XD
Somehow I forgot that you're a One as well. Look at us being brain twins AGAIN! To-dos and roadmaps are LIFE, I tell ya. But I love that you're running headlong into pantsing--and having fun doing it! I find that my process changes at least a little with every story I write, and WTA definitely needs a spontaneity that over-planning would probably end up squashing. So... here I go!
Thanks for your sweet comment, Christine!
Congrats on leaping into the querying pool and congrats on starting a new story! I’ll be honest that thriller or horror in most forms aren’t my genres, (I say most because one of my crit group’s member’s stories last year very lightly touched on the horor genre, but didn’t traumatize me. In fact, I liked it. So I can apparently handle a teensy bit :p) but I know that there’s a definite audience out there for both and I wish you the best in crafting it!
Oh, I know about writing out of order because that’s how In Dreams They Came began! You’ll probably find certain details in those out of order scenes need editing as the story solidifies, but it’s a great method for getting those scenes down that demand to be written NOW. There was actually a crucial scene in IDTC that I wrote out of order that then caused me to go back and change some of my MC’s backstory because I realized she needed a stronger reason to react the way she did, and that stronger reason then became a crucial plot thread. That probably sounds confusing, but hey, whatever works!😁
Thank you and thank you again! Thriller/horror definitely isn’t everyone’s cup of tea–I can respect that! (And I myself stay away from gory or demonic horror stories. I much prefer psychological horror… or horror *elements* woven into some other genre.)
It’s so encouraging to hear that from someone who’s successfully written out of order before! Editing is my favorite part of the writing process, so I don’t think I’ll mind having some extra clean-up at that stage. XD And that’s pretty cool about your MC’s backstory. Sometimes skipping around like that is the most organic thing you can do, methinks.
ACK! I’m so proud of you for finishing TBT and for sending out queries and things! I’m so happy that you were able to find a wonderful new beginning (and get to use your original later in the story! that’s fantastic!). And Congrats on moving on to a new project! I’m excited to hear how it goes! It sounds really intriguing.
I love that idea of not tracking words, but rather how the writing session went and whether or not you did it with God. That’s a very Allen Arnold way of thinking about it and I love it!
I’ve written one story out of order (the one I’m currently editing, actually) and I really loved writing it that way. It was a different sort of story for me, and needed a different approach… I was DREADING the editing on this one, but surprisingly it’s been going ridiculously smoothly so far, way better than books 1 or 2.
I have no dragon-taming tips. I tend to sort of just grab on near the ears and let the dragon wear itself out… LOL
Thank youuu, Jenelle! It blows my mind how you’ve been a part of TBT’s journey for so many years. <3 That beta reading stage was just last month, right? ...RiGhT?! XD
That bit was 100% inspired by Allen Arnold--good catch! I'm slowly reading through his second book, "Chaos Can't," and it's rather perfect for this season of life/writing.
Oooh, that gives me hope that I'm not creating a royal mess by writing out of order! I mean... I might still be, but it will hopefully be a fixable royal mess. So glad to hear your editing is going that well!
A valid piece of advice right there. Sometimes that's all you can do. XD
I am so excited about your new story! It sounds fascinating!!
Congrats on finishing TBT, best of luck with the querying. It’s such a good story, I know it’s going to get snatched up. 😀
Aww, thank you Skye! <3 I'm rather fascinated too, lol... because I'm in the dark more than usual with this story. Who knows what happens next! XD
*hugs* That means a lot--thank you again!!
SO excited for the TBT to be published! Hopefully it won’t be long!!:D Seriously, when it does get published, expect some *serious* fangirling. XD
Also I cannot wait for snippets from your new story, I have a feeling they’re going to be chilling o.o It sounds very intriguing!
Eeep, thank you, Sarah! YOU ARE THE SWEETEST. I hope it won’t be long too, haha!
Mwahaha… that’s the plannn. >:D
HURRAY FOR QUERYING!! 😀
And yassss this idea sounds deliciously eerie and wondrous! THAT AESTHETIC THOUGH <333
Huzzah! Thanks so muuuuch, Maddie! It’s crazy to think that not too terribly long ago, you were beta reading it. *wipes tears*
CONGRATULATIONS! I’m so happy for you! And wow, both of your current WIPs sound fantastic!
Ahhh, thanks so much, Amelie! It means a lot! <333
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