I’ll be honest: I probably could have uploaded part four of He Who Hated Pirates this week. But I would have had to rush to complete the plot, and not had time to give it the focus it deserves. The story deserves better than that.
One thing that chronic illness has taught me is that there is always an ebb and flow in energy, and a razor-thin line between capitalizing on it and burning yourself out. I’m still learning how to walk that line. Between this, the demands of my adhd, and the nature of creating an extensive universe to write in, I have a lot of things in the works at any given time. So in lieu of a story or essay this week I have an update/overview on my current projects! May this offering appease ye, oh voracious reader.
Take a peek at what has been simmering in my mind and what is to come:
He Who Hated Pirates. Obviously, I’m working on the final part, and it’s currently at 1,031 words. These parts have been longer than my typical short story, ~2000, so it’s about halfway there, I just have to get it all out of my head. And what better time to finish the queer nautical fantasy than the start of pride month?!?
Vampnatrii Romance. This is the manuscript for my paranormal romance book between a vampire and a monster hunter of the Venatrii Order. I’m on the second draft and just started chapter five, with 10k words! I expect there to be 35-40 chapters (37 planned plus an epilogue, but things change in the drafting process). This draft is a total re-write, and I’m switching it to first person perspective. Obviously it’s far off from being on any shelves, but I’m excited all the same.
Hunters & Heretics. You may or may not have noticed that I haven’t uploaded another chapter of my dark romantic fantasy serial. That’s because I’m working on chapters for both Odessa and Adara’s perspectives, seemingly at an equal pace, which has left them equally fucked in terms of being ready to post. Because I have been prioritizing Kieran’s story and my main manuscript I haven’t pulled on my boots and stepped into that mire yet. But they will be incoming!
Maledictum Chao. Honestly just putting her on the list for the love of the game. This is my dark fantasy epic that takes place in the First Age of Ekhypso (which is itself called maledictum chao: ‘the curse of chaos’), which you may have seen from my story releasing the cut prologue. It’s the age before order, time, and death, and tells the story of how ‘Ekhypso’ truly comes to be the way it is, and was inspired by the general atmosphere of games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring. I have done some more plotting for it though to clarify an outline—I have act 1 thoroughly outlined in the doc, but I’m pretty sure I’d scribbled thoughts down about the rest of it that are likely hiding in my notes app or some poor notebook I’ve tossed aside.
Hunter Twins. You may have read my recent Geist Girls short story, which is an introduction to the ‘modern’ era of Ekhypso as well as to Lily and Nessa, the monster-hunting sisters. I have another story cooking that has been in the back of my head for quite some time about the girls’ youth, and how they discovered inhumans and hunting in the first place. That story currently consists of 900 words and a prayer.
Pirates (again). More of the Pirates crew! Kieran’s short story is just a prologue to a larger book (which I simply refer to as ‘pirates’ at the moment—I know, I’m very clever with nicknames) and I have had a short story in the works that is at 1700 words. It’s not done so I have to decide whether it’ll be a long story (as my shorts are usually 1200-1500) or told in two parts. It follows two of the other characters in the story, one of whom has technically been seen before, but it’s also technically from the plot of the actual book. It’s just a great scene and I really wanted to share it but I’ve been stalling since I don’t know if I should save it.
5 Scrimbles. This is the technical term for ‘I just thought of a cool premise/couple of sentences and quickly wrote them down’. They will eventually become their own short stories! One of them is about a character who you have not yet seen in a story, but there have been a few tales with the consequences of her actions. The other four are all new story ideas!
Essays. I have three posts in various stages of drafting that mostly consist of bullet points and memes. Another worldbuilding one, focusing on history and mythology, one on time (and the lack thereof in the age of MalChao), and the third is more generally about character voice.
But wait, there’s more! This tricksy little hobbit has more up their sleeve than just writing.
Podcast Episode. A while ago I had floated the idea of doing a little “podcast” episode to introduce myself & Ekhypso. And I’ve done it! But it’s a 40 minute nightmare of rambling that I have to work on before it’s ready for anyone’s ears.
Narrations. On the topic of audio editing, I’m planning on doing more voiceover narrations of my short stories! There would have already been another up but I accidentally deleted a whole chunk of audio ): I’ve learned from this mistake so it shouldn’t happen again, and I now have a couple recorded that I need to fix up as well. Let me know if there are any stories you’d be particularly interested in hearing narrated and I’ll make sure to do it!
Creature creation. You may have seen a little sneak preview of the base concept sketches for a new little creature that I am making! (If not, here’s another 😉). This dino-roc-dragon mashup hasn’t been featured in any stories yet, mostly because they haven’t existed yet, but they’ve been another Ekhypso line item begging for my attention.
Art. In general, I do be drawin’. You can always count on the fact that I’m working on some sort of character art at any given moment (typically, as you’ve seen with the way my short stories go, there are multiple in various stages of chaos), as well as updating maps, and more!
Mask. This one is special! I had an idea to wear a mask inspired by one of the characters from MalChao—whom you may have met already—and having already been in the process of making cosplay masks/helms (and not wanting to pay a load of money for those cool ones I keep seeing online) I decided to try and make one myself! As I’m less comfortable sharing my face at the moment, it seems a nice midpoint where I might be able to get a picture on my account that isn’t just a meme (: Here’s the design concept I drew:
That is all I have for now, though I could likely go on about tens of additional ideas that lurk menacingly in the back of my head while the rest is focusing on all of the above. As we are now halfway through the year, a crazy concept on its own, this was also a nice way for me to look back on what I’ve been building and ahead to where I’ll go. Whether you’ve been here since I posted my first story or are finding me for the first time, thanks so much for taking the time to read up on all of my shenanigans. Happy pride month!
Let me know what you’d be looking forward to most! Or if you have any questions I will gladly extrapolate further.
Until next time,
M.K. Moretti
Wowieeee!! Look at you go! So many exciting things you've got in the works and are actively pursuing 🤩🤩🤩