Friday 10 January 2014

It's 2014!!!

Happy New Year, you fabulous people!!
May 2014 be a superb year for you and may you achieve whatever it is you set your sights on.

Well, it's been quite some time since I've posted on this blog, mainly because all my spare writing time has been devoted to 'Fractured Time'. As of today, I'm at about 95,000 words and I reckon I've got about a dozen more scenes to do (probably 15-20,000 words) before the first draft is finished. My target is the end of January for that and I'm pretty confident I can hit that.
Then the hard work starts - as I've been writing, the story has naturally developed, not only in relation to the plot (which is complex and, hopefully, thought-provoking), but also in relation to some of the backstory which I plan to make darker and more dystopian.
Then there's the way I'm writing - with The Book That They..., because it was in the form of a diary, there was very little description,very little scene setting and also very little dialogue. Fractured Time is different because there has to be a lot more of both, and that creates a new set of challenges.

I have to admit, though, that I'm really, really excited about this book - I think the sci-fi premise is unique, the crime story has enough twists and turns to keep murder-mystery aficionados happy, the main character is wonderfully flawed and, when I'm done, the prose will be mature yet very engaging.

The aim is to have the first draft done by January, the 'facts' and backstory firmed up by end of February, then the first 'readable' draft done by the end of April (just in time for holidays and walking!!). I've already got a number of guinea-pigs lined up to read through the first main draft (thanks guys!), and once I've taken their thoughts and comments into account, it'll be out to the literary agents and, fingers crossed, someone will like it.

The aim is to get this one published in hard copy.
All being well, I may be able to end the year by standing in Waterstones with a copy of my book in my hand shouting 'I WROTE THIS!!' until security eventually come and take me away!