
Projects for 2021 – Steampunk, Webtoons, and Historical Fiction
It’s been a bit over a month since I’ve launched my debut novel Laevium, a steampunk story set in Neo-Victorian London. Looking back, I am satisfied with how this first month went, especially since I did not have a huge marketing campaign to back it. Some of my marketing choices were intentional, and some others are due to the lack of time (I have a demanding fulltime job, and it’s hard to juggle between work, writing, research, marketing, and other projects).
One thing I’ve learnt from 2020 was not to make plans. But, in the end, my deadline-oriented and analytical self has decided to actually do some sort of planning for older and future projects I intend to work on this year.
What’s on my creative To Do list for 2021
Engineerium
The second novel of my steampunk Cerulean Airship series. It’s going pretty smoothly, I’m having tons of fun writing it, and, hopefully, it will be ready to fly out in the world this late summer. It will bring new characters, a new story (yes, my novels all have their own individual ending, although they are part of a series), as well as further developing the characters and storyline already introduced in Laevium. Maybe some teasers will be dropped at some point as well 😊
One, A Tale of Bravery and Strength
A collaboration webtoon I’m working on together with my good friend Alina “Alempe” Popovici (who also designed my beautiful cover for Laevium). The visual story is loosely based on a specific area of Thrace, during the 1st century BC, and we have already published seven chapters of it (you can read them for free here), before our hiatus. During this hiatus, Alina worked as the lead artist for Webtoon’s original adaptation Rot & Ruin, and I worked on Laevium. Now we both finished our individual projects and have resumed One. Yay!
New Super-Exciting Project
Another collaboration webtoon I’m working on together with the same friend, Alina. I am particularly excited about this new project because it takes place during a period I’ve been researching (of course, with many breaks in between) since I was a 15-year-old kid: the French Revolution. Expect to see some famous real historical characters (in our own view), but also fictional ones. More details to come soon, but we have already released a tiny teaser. All I can say right now is that the story will be set in Paris, in July 1793, and will also feature, among other characters, one of my longtime obsessions: Louis Antoine de Saint-Just…
Continuing Some Older Research
…which brings me to the next point in my plan. Resuming my research about Saint-Just and the French Revolution. In one of my older posts, I mentioned I’ve always wanted to write a novel set during the French Revolution. Actually, to be more specific, I’ve always wanted to write a novel with Saint-Just as the main character. Because, even after 25 years since I’ve first heard about him, he still fascinates me. I’ve decided that this year I’ll resume my research (I have quite a huge collection of books on the matter), and perhaps next year I will start drafting my novel. I even know what title it will have. Historical fiction is something I absolutely love, so I’m really excited to start working on this particular novel.
What are your creative plans for 2021?
Cover image: art from the webtoon One, a Tale of Bravery and Strength