Wednesday, January 19, 2011

What's Your WIP? by Morgan Mandel

I've got three or four WIPs right now. I blame that predicament on not staying focused, giving in to inspiration, and not following through.

I'm determined to finish the oldest, Forever Young, my Boomer thriller about the good and bad consequences of an age reducing pill.

What about you? Tell us about your current WIP. One only, please, and make it short, because eventually that's how you'll have to pitch it, no matter which venue you choose.




Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
Killer Career 99 cents on Kindle

30 comments:

Christine Rose said...

So very many WIP. A NaNoWriMo novel that might just be beyond help. A general fiction novel about a girl in the military struggling with BPD. A Steampunk Vampire Hunter YA romance novel. Book 4 in the Rowan of the Wood series. Two short stories.

Anonymous said...

I have one WIP that I am struggling with. It's a murder mystery. At the heart of it is a female law officer who uncovers the secret lives of people in her hometown while investigating, much to the discomfort of a lot of people.

Bosley Gravel said...

Just finished up a novella of a young boy who lost his twin sister in a car accident, and is subsequently 'haunted' by mischievous clowns (and tigers) who help him come to terms with the loss.

John Bray said...

My first novel THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY MADIGAN, a Civil War era story came out in November. Second one due shortly (different genre). The publisher suggested a sequel to THE BALLAD so that's my WIP. Finding it much harder to focus the plot. The first two came so easily. It will be more of a law enforcement story to follow up where the first one ended.

Amy J Romine said...

Special Agent Kate Weiss is hiding from a kidnapping she doesn’t remember.
Jack Tuckers life as a morning radio host is uncomplicated, attachment free and without regret.
Brought together by a mutual friend the pair is at odds from the moment they meet. She finds his confident swagger arrogant and beyond reproach, while he in turn sees her as a self righteous, controlling, dictator.
As Kate struggles with her confidence, Jack begins to realize his life without strings is missing something, or someone. Adversity quickly becomes attraction. Jack and Kate find themselves flirting with the flames of unexpected desire.
As emotions rise, scars are revealed and secrets are uncovered. Will the reality of their very different worlds bring them together or rip them apart?

Unknown said...

Mine is a non fiction at this time called, There IS Life After Fifty, about women fifty and older who tell about their lives since reaching fifty. They show that life doesn't end at fifty but perhaps it's the start of a new career, relationships of new beginnings. It's a fun book and I've met many wonderful ladies who have submitted their chapters on their lives.

Gloria Oliver said...

I'm currently at 81K words on the current WIP. (The end is near!) Urban Fantasy about a young woman who is in her appartment one moment and the next is standing on a dark Houston street in a weird get up. She finds out she has 3 months of missing time.

Gloria Oliver
Unveiling the Fantastic
www.gloriaoliver.com

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

I'm working on a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, as yet unnamed. This one is based on two unusual deaths in my hometown--though the outcome will be entirely different than what really happened.

Marilyn http://fictionforyou.com

Maryannwrites said...

All these books sound great. I am currently trying to finish the second book in the Season's mystery series. The first book, Open Season, is selling quite well, so the publisher is holding a spot for me for the second book if I can get it finished in the next couple of months. So maybe I should be writing instead of blog hopping? LOL

Patricia Harrington said...

Fun to read the diversity of WIPs by others. I'm a sucker for flash/short fiction so have three of those in progress. And I'm finishing A Rum Mystery, set on the Caribbean island of Angtiga and it takes place in the 1930's. Tourists and others are trying to find a secret cask of Lord Admiral Nelson's famous rum, hidden away. Having fun with tourist interactions--suspect you can relate to those. And just returned from a national MWA board meeting. Now serving as NW Chapter MWA board president. Must admit, it's more free-wheeling to be just a looker-on-er.

Yours in mystery,

Pat Harrington - read Gothic Mystery, Winter's Soul, Museitup Publishing

dustinjpalmer said...

My WIP is a serial-killer thriller in which a crazed madmen commits mass murders night after night. His primary target becomes Detective Cassandra Applegate, the lead detective on the case and someone with whom the killer has shared some experiences with in the past.
It is a fast paced thriller with lots of action and suspense, and I hope to have it complete and polished within the next couple of months

Thanks for the opportunity to post on your blog!

Dustin James Palmer
dustinjpalmer.wordpress.com

Unknown said...

My current WIP (of many) is Hattie's Hero, another western historical I've aiming this toward YA or Inspirational.

Hattie is 16-years-old and has grown up in a St. Louis orphanage. She manages to secure a job with a local family who is making a journey to California on a wagon train headed west...it's far better than the rejection she'll feel if she rides the "orphan train" one more time. She's naive, inexperienced, and may have bitten off a little more than she can chew.

Kaye George said...

I should be working on SMOKE (but am getting sidetracked into Short Story Land):

Imogene Duckworthy fights to save her dream job, working for Mike Mallett, an honest-to-goodness PI, and to find out who hung Rusty Bucket, owner of Jerry's Jerky, on the meathook in his own smokehouse.

Pat Brown said...

My current WIP is an historical novel set in 1880s New York. I pitch it as Gangs of New York meets Far and Away. I'm calling it City of Blood and Ice

Jack Doss, a young Irish immigrant leaves his name and his home behind when he flees a catastrophic accident that kills his brother and leaves him a fugitive. In his new home in New York City he battles human malevolence and natural disaster to make his place in the new world. He finds unlikely allies in Colleen, a young Irish lass ill-treated by her employer, and Finn Gallagher, a young thief and budding crime lord.

Katie Hines said...

I'm working on another middle grade urban fantasy, but it is slow going. I have recently taken on a part time job, which leaves me not nearly as much time to write as I've had in the past. Sigh. I didn't know what a good thing I had before I lost it!

Paul McDermott said...

I have had some interest from a publisher who has asked me to submit a "disaster scenario" WiP which started life as my 2009 NaNo.
I'm editing furiously, adding extra scenes to the 59,000 word original which starts from the possibility of an outbreak of RABIES in the UK when an infected animal slips past sloppy security at the Channel Tunnel.
It is (of course!) a "new, improved" (more deadly) form of the disease ...

I generally have 5 - 6 WiPs "on the hob" in case I hit the proverbial brick wall with one of them and need to take a break until my Muse stops sulking .....

Carolyn J. Rose said...

I'm working on a sequel to Hemlock Lake. The working title is In a Yellow Wood and it begins with the murder of a search and rescue dog handler and a grisly discovery in a glade deep in the Catskill Mountains.

Debra St. John said...

Right now I'm working the the third book of my 'trilogy' called "This Feels Like Home'. Sexy cowboy meets up with city girl.

I'm proud to day I've made some really decent progress on it lately. I'm halfway done! The last time I gave a page count to my writers' group I was one page 76...now I'm on page 146. Go me!

Ron Adams said...

My current WIP is the third Joe Banks mystery, title CROSSING MIDNIGHT. It is a simple missing persons case that turns into a quagmire of political corruption and human trafficking which threatens to swallow Banks whole. You never know what shadows are cast as you cross midnight...

Alyssa Lyons said...

My writing partner and I, writing as Alyssa Lyons, are writing book two of a three book contract, a cozy mystery called "Clubbed to Death" set in Lynchburg, Virginia. We have to have it in at the end of February for release this summer. The first book, "Last Wishes," is due for release by Black Opal Books the first week in March.

Alyssa Lyons

Donna Fletcher Crow said...

Thank you for asking, Morgan. A DARKLY HIDDEN TRUTH, book 2, The Monastery Murders. Felicity wants to become a nun. Antony wants to marry Felicity. A stolen icon, the murder of a good friend and the inopportune visit of Felicity's mother interrupts everyone's plans and sends them on a quest from Yorkshire to London and across East Anglia.

L.J. Sellers said...

I'm close to completing book five in the Detective Jackson series. The working title is Dying for Justice, and I'm excited to bring one of the other detective characters forward in this novel. The story involves two crimes of the past that resurface and stir up a lot of trouble in the present.

Unknown said...

Oh you lucky people having several WIPs on at once. My poor little brain can just about manage one. I'm on my second novel: The Deepest Secret.
BTW if anyone's suffering from Writer's block I've found a session of Bowen releases it! I'll blog about it soon. Just need a couple more sessions to check it really is Bowen that's doing it.

Rick R. Reed said...

I am working on a ghost/story murder mystery where the new resident of an apartment in Chicago is haunted in his dreams by a former tenant, who has gone missing. Almost done!

JETaylor said...

Your book sounds very interesting. Right now I'm working on editing the fourth novel in my Steve Williams FBI series called Georgia Reign. Steve is brought in on a particularly nasty case in Atlanta - a serial killer who abducts and performs operations on kids and he must find this killer before the latest kids abducted end up dead.

ebookauthor said...

I'm working on the second book of my Regency Trilogy. Lady Sarah is determined to marry this season, even if the man she loves is dead set against marrying anyone.
Almost done, finally. It's been a long time coming.

Adriana said...

I love that you're working on a boomer thriller - our current WIP is a boomer romance, Ripening Passion, picking up on a late 50's pair of minor characters from Smoldering Passion. They're having a great time and so are we!

L.D. Alan said...

Morgan… thanks for the opportunity to write about my new book. I just finished approving the book cover design and interior layout for Gotcha!, the 2nd book in my Rainey Walker Serial Killer Mystery Series. About Gotcha! After a year in hiding, the Scarf Killer surfaces in sunny California. Rainey is pulled into a sting operation by retired Captain Jonah Daniels’ Echo team of ex-cops turned private investigators. Their efforts to trap the elusive killer are being hampered by a copycat killer terrorizing the city of Los Angeles. www.raineywalkerseries.wordpress.com

P.I. Barrington said...

Breaking my rule of not speaking about projects until they're completed to say that among the WIPS I'm doing, including a real fantasy fantasy, I'm resurrecting a few short stories for mags that have invited me...the others you'll just have to wait for...

JFHilborne said...

I'm currently working on the final stages of re-writes for my 3rd novel, Hide and Seek, a suspense set in San Francisco.