At the moment Bloodie Bones is taking a rest while I wait for the response from the second reading to come in from The Literary Consultancy. So I could kick back and catch up on some TV and books. Nah
I started my new novel and I’m roughly 1/3 of the way through (32,000 words) after a month. Now comes the tricky part. In my experience the opening of a novel is fuelled by the white heat of creativity; the ideas are flowing, the characters are blooming into life and as a result the pages almost write themselves. But somewhere around the 25-30K mark that initial burn fades away, a bit like a shuttle blasting into space. Now is the time for booster rockets and the closest I ever get to plotting.
I have a good idea what the novel (tentative title: The Lost) is about (always a benefit, I find) and I have a rough outline in my head of what’s going to happen, but to get through the next 30,000 words I need something a little stronger.
I expect the next 30k to be a harder slog and take longer to write. That said, I’m still looking to finish the new novel by mid-August.
I think what I’m happiest about with the new novel (apart from being back writing a novel again. I mean, I don’t do this for the pay-check do I?) is that I’ve managed to grow it whilst still working on other things. I’ve edited a couple of short stories, including re-writing one at the request of an editor, wrote and presented a session for Derby Scribes, kept up with submissions and got into the swing of writing critiques for Critters. This feels sustainable. At the same time I’ve seen a couple of short stories published - one in the Derby Evening Telegraph and another in Morpheus Tales - Urban Horror Special. (My first in an anthology!). This also sees the first of my short stories to be published under the pen name “Richard Farren Barber”. (Remember, you saw it here first!)
The challenge now is to maintain the balance between writing the novel and keeping all those other plates spinning.
