Fresh targets

I'm just back from a weekend away. Now that I can forget about my finished ms for a while it's time I set some new targets.

I've got some decisions to make. Firstly, what period of history to set my next novel in. I've already decided to go for medieval rather than Roman this time. Although I love Roman and Dark Age historicals, I don't think there's so much of a market for them. Certainly M&B don't have many slots for them, so I need to expand my repertoire. At the moment I'm torn between two periods of English history: the reign of King John and the Anarchy. Both exciting times with plenty of potential.

My second decision is novel or novella? I love the Historical Undone series and I'm tempted to try my hand at a novella. It would be good discipline for me to write something where I have to focus so closely on the characters' relationship and conflicts.

I'd also like to write some more short stories and try for publication in a magazine. I got so buried in my ms that I abandoned my short story writing. I think it's time to have a go at it again.

So I've decided to declare this week an ideas week. Time to read up on my chosen periods in history, sketch out some character ideas, scour the internet for some faces for them, and review all the short story ideas I jotted down in my notebooks over the past year and promptly forgot.