I finished draft 4 of “Bloodie Bones” in August and left it to rest for a while. This allowed me to get on with a few other projects (short stories screaming to be written and a short children’s novel) but more importantly it allowed me to put some distance between me and the work.. and that has paid dividends.
It’s worth considering that there are some passages in Bloodie Bones that I’ve probably read 20 times by now (notably the first three chapters as I was preparing to read them at the World Horror Convention) so you would imagine they would be solid. Right? Wrong!
In the second paragraph of the first chapter I had a gate walking down the lane… instead of a person walking through the gate and then down the lane. Easily done and I should have picked it up much earlier than I did… but having the space to “forget” the novel and come to it afresh offered me a chance to read it in a way I haven’t been able to do previously. Thankfully, there aren’t too many examples of walking gates (they’re not part of the plot… in this novel at least!) but it has allowed me to read the novel as a single “piece”, pick up on where I need to fix plot issues or pacing problems, and tighten the text.
Next steps? Session 4 has gone off to Miranda this week. At the moment I’m focusing on the final 20,000 words in the book (they seem kinda important…) and then in October I’m attending an “Industry Day” held by TLC for their mentees.
My action plan is to have another couple of drafts of Bloodie Bones completed in October/Novel so that I’m ready to start casting my net for agents/publishers just in time for those all important Christmas parties.
And… in case you’re wondering about the gap between postings on this blog of late following my not-too-recent declaration to post weekly… whilst I was on holiday I managed to fracture my collar bone so my movements have been somewhat curtailed!
