project headless

Lest you all get tired of my nattering about Norwich and Cromer, let's natter about what I've elected to call Project Headless until I'm ready to share the title. Not that I'll ever stop nattering about Norwich.

I should make that a newsletter segment: Nattering About Norwich. I have friends who do it better, but I can try based on sheer volume and nostalgia.

Project Headless, though!

I have said in the past, and more recently, that I won't be talking about in-process work much. My reasons for this predominately involve A. possible plagiarism of past published work (the incidents are alleged and were only brought to my attention by trustworthy peers) and B. my brain chemistry. Unfortunately, A is just me being a bit shy and a lot wary. Of course, you can't copyright ideas and they can have so many interpretations. I've read a handful of fabulous Sleepy Hollow retellings, and I used to love the Tim Burton film. Still adore the Disney double-feature. Regarding B, if I talk about something enough, my brain tends to consider it finished before I've finished, so it's a fine balance between sharing with an audience or colleagues... an important habit to cultivate with discernment... and shooting myself in the foot.

A third set of factors that I didn't think would be a big one (after we settled in post-move), but still has an impact, are the caregiving responsibilities my spouse and I have taken on. Oddly, however, the unexpectedly unrelenting eldercare has contributed to the shape of PH in a useful fashion, which I might parse down in different post.

Bearing everything in mind, I'm... gonna talk a little. Art doesn't happen in voids.

Here's what we can expect from Project Headless!

• It's a novella; I love a good novella and it'll probably serve the concept better than something longer (also a nod to the original short story)
• Murderers falling in love and disappearing into the sunset (horrormance, baby, and one of them is definitely not cis)
• Love triangle with the Brom figure, but probably not how you think
• A greedy witch (it's not Katrina)
• Horseman who isn't actually headless (or is he... I mean, he's hot, either way)
• Body horror and surrealism
• Repression, suppression, and acceptance

Also, I know what I mentioned about the time period in my last newsletter, but it's been a while since I've had a concept bounce so much between eras! I usually have a strong sense of the period alongside everything else, yet this one has been amorphous. I may flip a coin. (Better than asking Chat or Claude.)

In seriousness, I have a solid hunch and there wouldn't be too much to revise if I did change my mind.

Really excited to bring Project Headless to the fore.

That's all from me for the moment; I'm off to go light votives for Dolly Parton and Tim Curry... I hope we're all coping with the hellscape that greets us every morning x