Today is the first day of the rest of my book.
2 years is a little more of a hiatus than I had planned, but having divested myself of my soccer responsibilities last night, I’m free now to wield keyboard in anger again. Well, not so much anger; more bemusement, really, as I try to remember where I was, and what I was trying to say. If you’re unaware of Going Back, have a quick look at the About page for a little more information.
At this point, the situation is:
- I have a third draft of a novel
- It’s almost 150,000 words long
- I’m reasonably happy with large chunks of it
- Part 1, in particular, has a pleasing logic to it, and builds nicely to the kind of climax that parts of books are supposed to build to.
- Part 3 is also not too shabby, although there are flabby bits in it. I like my ending (which is encouraging), and I think it resolves fairly well, although I’m aware that the point I was heading towards in my first concept isn’t very well dealt with, and I need to restructure some critical bits in the last 20 pages or so, because a couple of my characters are a little wobbly in there, and maybe I’m trying too hard to tie things up too neatly. It’s not that kind of story…
- Part 2 is, I’m afraid, a mess. Which is a shame, because it contains some of the best bits of writing in the whole thing, and some really pleasing character development. It is, however, way (and I mean waaaaay) too long, and spends a large amount of time retelling the events of Part 1 from the POV of another character. Which I’d still really like it to do, but perhaps not quite the way it does now.
- Part 2 also has a central implausibility, which I’d really like to keep, but I’m worried that it’s there because I am in love with the last line of Part 1.
What now? Well, I need to read it again, and I need to have other people (ulp) read at least some of it (Part 1 is available as a pdf for the brave, but I don’t know if I should advertise that too widely). I’d like to keep this blog, and the associated social media postings as a way of getting word out there about it. Out where? Well, I’m really not sure at this point. More on this in the future, I think.
I also intend to break into a book by the Weekend Novelist which I have had sitting on my desk for – funnily enough – two years. It’s about rewriting the novel, and I’m fairly sure that’s the point I’m at right now. In my dream world, I’m going to apply the advice (or ignore it, as appropriate), and blog about how it’s going in here. In reality, this blog may turn into something else entirely, but I do hope not.
So: a book. A task. A blog. Will it work? I hope so…
Next time: a sample or two, to test the waters.