Day 203: My Next Project

I've been thinking about my next project. I have a couple of ideas that I've fleshed out a little bit over the past few months, just enough to get a taste and see if it is something I want to work on long term. I know for sure that I want to take a break from Oneiromancer, even though I always planned to do at least two books. The next one can marinate for a while. Given I'm already writing a series, I think it would be best for me to start on a one-off story that I can wrap up in one book. I don't want to work on two long series simultaneously, especially since I only have a single draft under my belt at this point. I have two ideas I'm trying to decide between given those restrictions.

First is an idea I had about a year ago that I've worked on here and there for fun. It boils down to an alien abduction story where someone ends up in an alien zoo. The concept is a little outlandish, but I think it could work well as a solo survival story with some harder scifi elements in there a la 'The Martian.' I think it's a fun idea and I have it mostly plotted out already.

The second is a more ambitious scifi plot that's a little closer to home. Far in the future, humans have expanded beyond Earth to colonize the solar system, but have yet to venture beyond. In the past (but still our future) some cataclysmic event wiped out all computer records, which by then were the only records kept for centuries. Humanity took a while to rebuild on Earth, meanwhile the already established colony on a terraformed Venus prospered, but those records were never restored. This period where hard copies were no longer kept, but all digital records are gone is lost forever, and of course the subject of great mystery. A light is shone on those secrets when strange craft from places unknown show up on our doorstep ...

Yeah after writing this out I think I'm just gonna go with second one. The alien zoo is more thorough but I think the excitement is gone for me on that one. Maybe I'll pick it back up one day. Right now though, that second one makes me want to write, so I'm going with that one. I guess this is the writer's equivalent of flipping a coin and deciding before it lands.

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley