You remember how I was wittering on and on about Mythomania and how it was almost done and then I’d moved to Seething Fury and got a couple of drafts underway before I started visualising Kerry San Dever? Do you remember that? Were you paying any attention at all?
Well, I had a struggle because it got hot and I got very tired as now we have a hamster in the family and a child that seemed very convinced he would cope admirably with it sharing his bedroom before falling at the first hurdle on the very first day. We all know that tiredness isn’t conducive to structured thinking in the first place, am I right? And this summer heat, eh? Also, not great.
However, the truth of the matter really is that I’d lost my way a fair bit. I’d always planned to write Seething Fury for quite some time and I knew I had to get Mythomania done prior to that to help set things up. Then when I’d finished my first draft of Seething Fury and was immensely pleased with everything it slowly began to dawn on me that I didn’t have a proper ending or explanation for either book. That’s when I came up with Kerry San Dever as the ‘pinnacle’ of a trilogy that would draw a line under it all.
This then started to derail everything.
To try and come up with a neat story that explains a lot of stuff that I hadn’t properly thought out is (surprise, Cilla) REALLY, REALLY HARD. So, this soon started becoming a literal stumbling block. Every way I tried to twist a tale I then had to fit in why everything was what it was. Seams began to unravel. My mind began to wander and I decided to blame all these problems on a small furry nocturnal creature. Then I started watching TV shows on the train rather than planning my epic end.
So, you know what? I’m scrapping it all. I’m killing my darlings.
‘Ouch’, you exclaim somewhat distractedly, ‘you must be really gutted’.
And you know what? I’m not.
Because something clicked a week ago. Some huge freight train went ploughing through my thought processes and said ‘Stop what you’re doing. You’ll drive yourself nuts trying to sort this lot out. I have a fantastic idea for you that you really need to hear out instead’.
So, I’ve listened. Things have begun to flow. I’m in a good place.
I’m going to write again but not properly and not for some time. I can’t say exactly when because I don’t really know but I’m hoping it won’t be too far off. I’ve learnt some incredibly valuable lessons about writing a series of connected books – the main one being PLAN IT PROPERLY.
And now I’m currently in the midst of research. A LOT of research.
All I can say for now about it is that it’s about ghosts. Or sort of ghosts. That there is a land just beyond called Limbus. That there is a girl called Neach who is about to discover this land. That there is going to be a lot of adventuring and spying and a whole bunch of other mysteries. That I do know right now pretty much how it begins and also how it ends. That there is likely to be five books in total. But that they won’t be books quite as long as Mythomania.
Because, you know? For kids.
😉