IWSG: Writing Plans for 2025

Happy 2025, everyone! This will be a significant year for our family, as my son turns eighteen and will start college in the fall. (We're already empty nesters with him spending his senior year of high school at a boarding school, but the dynamic will be different.) It will also be our twentieth wedding anniversary in September. Here's hoping that the new year brings something good for all of us.

Anyway, this is the first Wednesday of January, so it's time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. Learn more about them on their website and Facebook page.

Our hosts this month are Rebecca Douglass, Beth Camp, Liza at Middle Passages, and Natalie at Literary Rambles.

I'm going to skip the optional question this month and instead talk briefly about my writing plans for this year. A lot of them involve revisiting half-finished projects and trying to finish them. There are three short stories set in the current world I'm working in (one is actually in progress at the moment, while the other two are still on the back burner), along with two partially written novels (one fantasy, one a cozy mystery). As if that's not enough, I also want to write a novella or novel in a genre I haven't written before (romantic fantasy). I have a feeling I would learn a lot from that one. I still need to prioritize these projects, but even if I only finish two or three of them, it'll be a good feeling to get them off of my plate.

What are your writing plans for the year? Feel free to share them in the comments.
 

IWSG: Story Cliffhangers

I can't believe I almost forgot to post today! I meant to write this earlier this week, but I was busy with holiday prep. (I do have my laptop back, BTW.) Anyway, welcome to the last post for The Insecure Writer's Support Group for 2024. Learn more about them on their website or Facebook page. 

Our hosts this month are Ronel,  Deniz, Pat Garcia, Olga Godim, and Cathrina Constantine!

Here's our question for the month: Do you write cliffhangers at the end of your stories? Are they a turn-off to you as a writer and/or a reader?

Cliffhangers are great for chapter endings, but not story endings. It's perfectly reasonable for a reader to expect the story questions to be answered by the end of the story. The possible exception might be for a series. The overall story line won't be complete until the final book. That said, each tale in a series has to stand on its own. In my Season Avatars series, each book is told through a different point of view. Although the Avatars experienced a dramatic reversal of fortune in the penultimate book, Fifth Season, Ysabel finished her part of the story before handing it over to Kay in Summon the Seasons.

How do you feel about cliffhangers? Feel free to share in the comments.