Up, Up and Awaaay!

My fiction writing journey is 6 months old and I’m having fun

I invented the pen name Jacinta Palmer on 31–12–21 then immediately began to post fiction in the genres of fantasy, transgressive, supernatural, thriller, and romance, both contemporary and historical. Now I’ve connected with like-minded writers, I am thoroughly enjoying my time on Medium— it’s fun to flex my writing muscles and craft the kind of stories I would normally read as full-length novels.

Although I only planned to write fiction, I‘ve joined Illumination, Youness-ness, and Life After Work, so I’ll also share non-fiction pieces ~ most recently The Importance of Dennis’ Jeans: a tribute to my father, from the angle of his take on fashion.

In the final years of my father’s life, I would visit him weekly. We’d spend a very pleasant day reminiscing — he was quite the raconteur — or shooting the breeze, and one of the things we enjoyed talking about was fashion. He’d save the color supplement from the Times to tell me his opinions on what did and didn’t work in the ‘style’ section. My mother was always beautifully turned out, she made her own clothes in the early years of their marriage, and she dressed for his appreciative audience.

I signed up for Pet Talks because most of my funny life stories seemingly involve animals ~ Fight or Flight. I wanted to be a vet when I was 10, after a school trip to the Royal Veterinary College, which impressed me greatly. That summer I spent all my birthday money on animal-themed books — from It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet: James Herriot to Black Beauty: Anna Sewell. That’s when I wised up, I was too sensitive/soft-hearted to be a vet. I’m also afraid of handling birds or snakes, so definitely not the career for me. But I’ve owned several dogs, cats, rabbits, and hamsters, so I’ve plenty of ‘story fodder’.

My fantasy series Courtly Love features a fabulous talking fox — this is because he is a fairy who’s been enchanted. Millville’s fox form was heavily inspired by Rupert Everett’s performance in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. It was his lover Vinca who unwillingly enspelled him. For Vinca’s healing and magical ways, I’ve been influenced by two characters from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series: Claire and Geillis. I’ve listened to variations on fairy stories and legends all year, to shape Millville’s quest. I’m nearing the conclusion of this story arc, but I’ve had to write within a strict brief because the next drama in the elven lands was a series I actually wrote last year.

Readers, I thank you! From feedback, I gather you to enjoy the chills and amateur sleuthing that involved Jay, the schoolboy in my short mystery series The One You Let In. I’d watched Goosebumps on TV with my children, so I wrote to that level of scare. This tale was my first attempt at serializing, as it was posted in chapters on Wattpad, later on, my own blog, before I added it via my Jacinta account to Fictions — a great place for hosting the type of stories I love reading.

Redemption publishes dark, edgy fiction with plenty of content warning. On Transgressive Thursdays they host a raft of great short pieces, the rest of the week they prefer longer stories or serials. Read my dark and twisted offerings: Dying to Be Beautiful 1, 2, Fortune Teller.

Tantalizing Tales, their sister publication is the ideal place for my mildly spooky stuff: Freesias for Valentine’s Day and this one I wrote in response to their Cellar prompt. Their brief is wide: sci-fi, supernatural, thriller, erotic fiction — anything that makes a tantalizing, page-turning read.

Thanks so much for joining me on my journey; what is a writer without readers? I appreciate all claps, comments, and follows and will reciprocate where appropriate.

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