I thought it might be about time that I gave you an update on where things are at. Not in general, of course. Not about the REAL world. This would probably sound a lot more negative if that was the case. Instead, I’d like to focus on it being more of an upbeat, inspirational piece about life. Or thereabouts.
Currently, research and planning are key. There is very little proper writing going on, save for creating back stories for the heroes and villains of the piece and naming various people and places. So I’m occasionally getting moments of inspiration for the tiny jigsaw pieces that will hopefully bring this all together one day.
I took a trip to the ruins of the Crystal Palace the other week as that plays a key role in a set piece and I found that helped spur me on a fair bit. I’m also reading lots about hauntings and English place names and lost buildings. I recently purchased a wonderful book called ‘Phantasmagoria’ that is helping with determining some of the foes that will be met along the way…
I’ve got a kind of plan to draft up the first three chapters of Book 1 this November. It’s going to be an exceptionally rough draft but my son is egging me on and as its NaNoWriMo I thought it might be a good idea to contribute in some way to that, as well as seeing if I can actually write this thing or whether I should just give up and play Red Dead Redemption 2 for the next 6 months instead.
I can give you something tangible, I reckon. Two things, in fact. There you go…who says I never do anything for my imagined avid readers.
These are two absolute certainties of the first book so far. The protagonist is called ‘Neach’ and the book is called ‘The Ring that Echoes’.
Everything else is pretty much up for grabs. I feel I probably have the best part of 10 years work to go on these. And again, even if I manage to succeed there’s no guarantee that you’ll ever get to read them. Sorry, that’s just how it goes. Who knows where we’re all be in 10 years time, anyway? I suspect that we’ll be eating books for actual food.
In the midst of all this sudden burst of creativity I’m desperately trying to move house. It’s not as easy as it looks, I can tell you. Plus, it plays havoc with concentration. So, I’m more likely just to be randomly jotting down thoughts for the next 6 weeks before I hit that NaNoWriMo plan. Which may by then be ripped up into tiny bits. Hey ho! Inspirational or what?
For genuine relaxation to help alleviate the moving tension we’re currently glued to ‘The Americans’ – although I’m now less enamoured now that I’ve discovered Russian spies seem to have nowhere near as much guile and cunning as their fictitious TV counterparts. Tsk. Real life is very disappointing, isn’t it?
I’ll try and get you some more news around same time next month. I suspect I’ll still be in the same house but hopefully with a few more sketched out writing ideas and a more realistic TV show to zonk out to. See you then!