It should be self-explanatory but I'm going to explain it anyway.
First there was Project C...
Project C was the working title I always called Clipped when referring to it in public. I always knew I wanted to call it Clipped but, things change, or might change, or if it ever got picked up by a publisher, they might want to change the title.
Hence, Project C.
Why Do I Call it the Clippedscape?
For years, week by week, I ran Clipped through a helpful and diligent writing group. They helped me make the protagonist more pro-active, execute some old darlings that needed to be killed, and over-all just made it a stronger tale as a whole.
After they got to the last line of the last page, I got a question over and over again.
"Wait... what happens after that?"
So, I spent a few days, or weeks maybe, thinking about it and started plotting a sequel called Scapegoat. As of this writing it clocks in at about 20k words, is directionless, dissonant with the world I set up in Clipped and I haven't touched it in something like 2 years.
Will it ever be finished? I don't know. Who can say? What does exist of Scapegoat seriously needs to be revised.
Absolution, or, When a Single Song Inspires an Entirely New Novella in an Already Established World...
One evening, Spotify decided to screw with my creativity and shoved a song at me that I had never heard before. I'm not going to tell you the song, because reasons, but from it, a new story that takes place years before Clipped materialized in my brain. It was basically fully-formed, I just needed to get it down in text.
I called it Absolution because I like that word, but the guy who wrote Annihilation just released a book called Absolution and I am not that guy so why should I even bother waving my tiny little Absolution flag when his banner and fanfare exists?
Totally willing to change the name. I go with Martyr but there's this little extreme horror flick you might have heard about...
As of this writing, the novella is about 6k words and I haven't touched it in months.
Anyway, Absolution or not, that's why I call it the Clippedscape.
Question of the day...
If you're a creator, do you use working titles and code names for your works?
Until next time.
K. Q. Watson
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