At last!
Yesterday I published The Perilous City to Amazon, 2nd February 2016. Halleluiah.
It has been a long time coming. Not so much the writing of it - although that took longer than I thought, but the editing.
I had hoped to write the book in a year. In the end it took nearer sixteen months. But once I had it written it was too big. I had planned 6 sections each of 6 chapters, maybe 150,000 words. I ended up with 5 sections each of 12 chapters, and over 250,000 words. So I set myself the task of editing that down to 200,000. Not by cutting content, but by pruning the writing itself, making it less florid, more sparse.
That turned out to be a long, grinding job, going through every one of 60 chapters, trying to reduce each by a fifth. I ground away at it and ground away at it and finally, by the end of January this year, I had it done.
And do you know what? I'm really pleased with the result. I love this book anyway, I think it is the best thing I have written so far. For me it is much more character-driven than the previous two, much less dependent on big effects and dramatic scenes, and much more deeply involved in the lives of its characters. In turn I think the sparer style of writing that I've achieved through scrupulous, painful editing suits the dark interior life that the book deals with. And really I have removed little or no content, other than some small episodes, little grace-notes which were flourishes anyway, and not central to the story.
It makes me think now that this is the style I need to go for, that I have to prune away the excess in the future books. After all, if I can remove 50,000 words and lose nothing major to the story then that was perhaps just so much spare flesh in the first place. Of course the things I took out may have been stylistic flourishes or details of observation which added to the story-telling, and I have now lost those. I think one or two fell into that category, but not necessarily many. And I think I have left in enough flourishes. It's good, I think, to have sentences which stand above the heads of everything around them, which are bright jewels in a plain setting. In that way they command more attention. I don't want everything to be flat and functional after all. But here I think I've done the right thing.
Let's wait and see - two more books to come in this series yet, The Beleaguered City and The Besieged City. Perhaps the new style will suit them, perhaps it won't. I'm still learning after all.
But phew, it's good to have stopped editing. Now I can begin writing again. Onwards and upwards.
Wednesday, 3 February 2016
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Long Gap
It has been a long time since the last blog post. Why? Because I've been down in the belly of the beast, trying to complete the first draft of The Perilous City. It's done, and that draft in turn has been edited, to produce what I think is my first, roughly finished copy.
It took me a good deal longer to complete the book than I had anticipated. I had reckoned on 12 months and it took 15. The end just seemed to keep receding out of sight, as it became harder to resolve it quite how I wanted. Without spoiling anything a visit to the roof of St Giles was needed to get over the finish line, and I wasn't able to do that until December as visits to the roof had only recently been restarted. But, with one last great heave, I got there.
Then in turn the editing process had to be undertaken, and that was time consuming. I set myself the task of doing five chapters a week, and there are sixty chapters. Simple maths tells you twelve weeks and, I can say proudly, that's how long it took. And how do I feel about it, now that I've sort of finished? Relieved, for certain, happy, definitely, and, perhaps, a little bit reluctant to let it go.
So now the book is with my readers - three friends who have enjoyed the previous two and have agreed to give me feedback on this one. This is a nervous time for me. What will they think, what will they say? Will they like it, better than the last, or not? The style is different from either City of Stone or City of Fire and Ice, but I think different and better. There is more character development, more focus on a smaller group of characters, more sense of the detail of the City, and more sense of lives lived day by day. I'm proud of this book, and I think it is my best yet, but I'm also worried that it is too big, too long, and I'm wondering if my readers will say that. I toyed with the idea of breaking it into two parts, but that just doesn't work here, it is too much a single story, to be told in one long sweep. I toyed with cutting it down drastically - but what would I cut, who would I cut?
So, for better or worse my working draft of The Perilous City is out there. Jack and Rennie are on their long and hazardous voyage through their lives, and I can only hope that they will entertain, and thrill, and move my sample readers the way they have me.
It took me a good deal longer to complete the book than I had anticipated. I had reckoned on 12 months and it took 15. The end just seemed to keep receding out of sight, as it became harder to resolve it quite how I wanted. Without spoiling anything a visit to the roof of St Giles was needed to get over the finish line, and I wasn't able to do that until December as visits to the roof had only recently been restarted. But, with one last great heave, I got there.
Then in turn the editing process had to be undertaken, and that was time consuming. I set myself the task of doing five chapters a week, and there are sixty chapters. Simple maths tells you twelve weeks and, I can say proudly, that's how long it took. And how do I feel about it, now that I've sort of finished? Relieved, for certain, happy, definitely, and, perhaps, a little bit reluctant to let it go.
So now the book is with my readers - three friends who have enjoyed the previous two and have agreed to give me feedback on this one. This is a nervous time for me. What will they think, what will they say? Will they like it, better than the last, or not? The style is different from either City of Stone or City of Fire and Ice, but I think different and better. There is more character development, more focus on a smaller group of characters, more sense of the detail of the City, and more sense of lives lived day by day. I'm proud of this book, and I think it is my best yet, but I'm also worried that it is too big, too long, and I'm wondering if my readers will say that. I toyed with the idea of breaking it into two parts, but that just doesn't work here, it is too much a single story, to be told in one long sweep. I toyed with cutting it down drastically - but what would I cut, who would I cut?
So, for better or worse my working draft of The Perilous City is out there. Jack and Rennie are on their long and hazardous voyage through their lives, and I can only hope that they will entertain, and thrill, and move my sample readers the way they have me.
Tuesday, 7 October 2014
The Last Hurdle
Nearly there. One last chapter and the first draft of The Perilous City is done.
Trouble is I've hit a last hurdle. The final scenes of this chapter takes place on the roof of St Giles. Previously it has not been possible to see that roof, so I had planned to do my writing from a combination of photos and imagination. Imagine then my surprise and delight to find, only a few weeks ago, that they have restarted guided tours of the roof.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get on one yet. They are run by volunteers and you have to phone in advance to book one. Weekends are my favoured time and they don't often run at weekends. So, until I can get up that roof I am having to hold fire on the last chapter. I could do it from my own mental resources, but nothing compares to going there, to a physical location, in person. For the final scenes of City of Fire and Ice I did the tour of Holyrood Palace, and saw Mary's chambers, and the tower that held them, the Long Gallery, and all the other rooms besides. It informed and shaped what I then wrote, and helped me imagine the Young Master's progress through those chambers, in search of Mary.
So, until I get on the roof, I'm holding fire. Can't wait.
Trouble is I've hit a last hurdle. The final scenes of this chapter takes place on the roof of St Giles. Previously it has not been possible to see that roof, so I had planned to do my writing from a combination of photos and imagination. Imagine then my surprise and delight to find, only a few weeks ago, that they have restarted guided tours of the roof.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get on one yet. They are run by volunteers and you have to phone in advance to book one. Weekends are my favoured time and they don't often run at weekends. So, until I can get up that roof I am having to hold fire on the last chapter. I could do it from my own mental resources, but nothing compares to going there, to a physical location, in person. For the final scenes of City of Fire and Ice I did the tour of Holyrood Palace, and saw Mary's chambers, and the tower that held them, the Long Gallery, and all the other rooms besides. It informed and shaped what I then wrote, and helped me imagine the Young Master's progress through those chambers, in search of Mary.
So, until I get on the roof, I'm holding fire. Can't wait.
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Publish and Be Damned Part 2
That's it. Part 2 of The Great Project - City of Fire and Ice - went on to Amazon yesterday. I've published the whole thing now, all three hundred thousand or so words. Phew!
It feels good, getting part two out there. Getting a good cover was a little more tricky this time. I used the same designer, but we had to do a lot of backwards and forwards discussion before we got it right. I'm very happy with it now though. It hints at fire and ice, it uses a photo of Edinburgh Castle that I took, and it incorporates an angel, which is a key component of the story. So I'm pleased with it.
I've also priced this second part of my book less competitively - it's dearer. That way I would hope, eventually, to make a good return for all my two years of effort on the two books together.
The key thing now is to concentrate more on marketing/selling. And to do that I need to get my current book finished. I'm close, but like the sea it keeps receding. I'll get there soon though. Then it's sell, sell, sell.
It feels good, getting part two out there. Getting a good cover was a little more tricky this time. I used the same designer, but we had to do a lot of backwards and forwards discussion before we got it right. I'm very happy with it now though. It hints at fire and ice, it uses a photo of Edinburgh Castle that I took, and it incorporates an angel, which is a key component of the story. So I'm pleased with it.
I've also priced this second part of my book less competitively - it's dearer. That way I would hope, eventually, to make a good return for all my two years of effort on the two books together.
The key thing now is to concentrate more on marketing/selling. And to do that I need to get my current book finished. I'm close, but like the sea it keeps receding. I'll get there soon though. Then it's sell, sell, sell.
Monday, 11 August 2014
Resolving to Be Brave
I've just finished reading a so-so fantasy book, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Again it's one of those which puzzled me, because some of the reviews online were stormingly good, and yet when I read it myself I was disappointed. It was okay, the central story was fine, but it was so full of the most undisciplined digressions and 'world-making' descriptions, that the pace became tediously slow at times. I was puzzled again by the high praise some readers seemed to give it. So I delved deeper into the reviews, past the first few. There I found others which agreed with my assessment. And one I read made me think about my own writing.
The review said this:
'On the one hand, Lynch's technical talent clearly elevates him above the great gormless herd of modern fantasy writers already. And there's no denying that the book is very likeable indeed, while it seems unfair to fault it based only on what it could have been. On the other hand, it's just 'too damn safe'. Lynch is going to be a major player in the genre - that much is obvious already - but he has it in him to do something Seriously Good rather than settling for being the next RA Salvatore. But it's not gonna happen until he gets over his fear of failure. PERDIDO had parts that worked and parts that didn't but Mieville wrote his ambition on every page in letters of fire, and the excitement swept me, the reader, away with him. Whereas LOCKE LAMORA felt like Lynch was parceling out his ideas and his talent and calculating every story beat based on whether it would make a good start for a franchise.'
Apparently the book has already been optioned for a film, so the safety-first claim rings true. Now, I've read one of China Mieville's books, and while it puzzled and annoyed me in places, it gripped me. This one didn't. And it occurred to me that the willingness to get things wrong is exactly what makes the difference between the two. In other words when writing you need to be brave, to risk failure, to try something and not necessarily expect it to work, but to try it anyway. That idea has really resonated with me, and I'm wondering now how I can put it into practice. Have I been safe in my writing? I'm not sure. I didn't think so, but I wonder now. What this review has done is to make me determined to think through what I'm writing and look for the unsafe options. Have I considered and discarded them sometimes? I'm not sure. But I know I don't want to write a book like Locke Lamora. So, definitely not safety first from hereon in.
The review said this:
'On the one hand, Lynch's technical talent clearly elevates him above the great gormless herd of modern fantasy writers already. And there's no denying that the book is very likeable indeed, while it seems unfair to fault it based only on what it could have been. On the other hand, it's just 'too damn safe'. Lynch is going to be a major player in the genre - that much is obvious already - but he has it in him to do something Seriously Good rather than settling for being the next RA Salvatore. But it's not gonna happen until he gets over his fear of failure. PERDIDO had parts that worked and parts that didn't but Mieville wrote his ambition on every page in letters of fire, and the excitement swept me, the reader, away with him. Whereas LOCKE LAMORA felt like Lynch was parceling out his ideas and his talent and calculating every story beat based on whether it would make a good start for a franchise.'
Apparently the book has already been optioned for a film, so the safety-first claim rings true. Now, I've read one of China Mieville's books, and while it puzzled and annoyed me in places, it gripped me. This one didn't. And it occurred to me that the willingness to get things wrong is exactly what makes the difference between the two. In other words when writing you need to be brave, to risk failure, to try something and not necessarily expect it to work, but to try it anyway. That idea has really resonated with me, and I'm wondering now how I can put it into practice. Have I been safe in my writing? I'm not sure. I didn't think so, but I wonder now. What this review has done is to make me determined to think through what I'm writing and look for the unsafe options. Have I considered and discarded them sometimes? I'm not sure. But I know I don't want to write a book like Locke Lamora. So, definitely not safety first from hereon in.
Thursday, 31 July 2014
One Year On
The summer break is past, tomorrow is the 1st of August, the blog resumes. Not that the writing stopped. It went on at a relentless pace all through the summer, 4,000 words a week, every week, with one week off for a holiday in Portugal. The Perilous City is nearing its end. That is to say the end of the first draft. And what a thing it has become. It stands at nearly 200,000 words at the moment, with perhaps half a dozen chapters still to be written. now I know that size isn't everything, and it certainly isn't or wasn't what I planned originally. I thought it would perhaps come out at 150,000 words maximum and I wanted six sections of six chapters each. I've ended up with nearly a quarter of a million words (by the time I've finished) and more like four sections of twelve each. And when did I start writing this current novel? The 1st of August. Exactly a year ago.
As I've always said, novels are organic. I would hope that this one has not been padded, but I would say that it has grown like topsy. Characters have taken on a life of their own - Tibbie, the scarred whore with the proverbial heart of gold, Pincher the one-legged beggar and his friend Matty the fake veteran; Sary the witch-woman, Domhnall the inn keeper, and lots more besides. I needed them, I made them, but then they made themselves and I found it hard not to think to myself - what is he doing now, what is she doing now?
The real question I am going to have to face, when I come to revise this book, is how much of that growth should I prune away? Have I let the supporting characters grow so that they have now obscured the central story, which was meant to be quite bare and simple? Two sailors, one crippled, the other a drunk, washed up on the shores of the Perilous City and forced to make their living there. Tied together by guilt, but pulled apart by a woman. And both nurturing secret hopes - one for love, the other for his legs back. Which of those is more impossible, the book asks, and can the men's friendship, now dysfunctional and broken, ever be mended? Can they emerge from the shipwreck of their lives, or will they drown?
The simple answer to the pruning question is that I'm not sure, and won't be till I start editing and re-reading. I'm almost inclined to think that there are two books here, or two versions of the same book. Maybe it's like a film - the director's cut and one for public consumption. Whatever I decide to do I know that there is a lot of work still to be done. But I love these characters and I want them to shine, so the work of polishing them will have to take what it takes. And I hope in turn they will be loved by others.
As I've always said, novels are organic. I would hope that this one has not been padded, but I would say that it has grown like topsy. Characters have taken on a life of their own - Tibbie, the scarred whore with the proverbial heart of gold, Pincher the one-legged beggar and his friend Matty the fake veteran; Sary the witch-woman, Domhnall the inn keeper, and lots more besides. I needed them, I made them, but then they made themselves and I found it hard not to think to myself - what is he doing now, what is she doing now?
The real question I am going to have to face, when I come to revise this book, is how much of that growth should I prune away? Have I let the supporting characters grow so that they have now obscured the central story, which was meant to be quite bare and simple? Two sailors, one crippled, the other a drunk, washed up on the shores of the Perilous City and forced to make their living there. Tied together by guilt, but pulled apart by a woman. And both nurturing secret hopes - one for love, the other for his legs back. Which of those is more impossible, the book asks, and can the men's friendship, now dysfunctional and broken, ever be mended? Can they emerge from the shipwreck of their lives, or will they drown?
The simple answer to the pruning question is that I'm not sure, and won't be till I start editing and re-reading. I'm almost inclined to think that there are two books here, or two versions of the same book. Maybe it's like a film - the director's cut and one for public consumption. Whatever I decide to do I know that there is a lot of work still to be done. But I love these characters and I want them to shine, so the work of polishing them will have to take what it takes. And I hope in turn they will be loved by others.
Monday, 19 May 2014
Temporary Blips and the Grim Reaper
Having rattled along on my current book - The Perilous City - at a rate of 4,000 words per minute for 38 weeks in a row (which for the mathematically-minded makes for over 150,000 words and counting) I have suddenly found myself coming to a crunching halt, though I hope it is a temporary blip rather than a full-scale meltdown. Why has it happened?
Two reasons one understandable, one less so. First, I have been away for a week in Stockholm, work-related and that proved impossible to combine with keeping up my galloping rate of writing. Fair enough, I'm back, things should be back to normal. But, something else is holding me up. I'm virtually at the end of a section, which should then lead me into the last part of the book (yes, so 150,000 words and not finished). But I'm struggling with two options for the same character/s, and I just can't yet decide what to do. One involves death now, one involves death later. I'm sure the Grim Reaper doesn't have these problems. When do you kill a much-loved character? (well, much-loved by me and you hope eventually the readers). That's something I'm still trying to judge in this case, and can't seem to resolve. But my real problem here is the galloping writing rate. Somehow my planning has slipped behind, and I now don't have a chapter plan for the last part of this book. So perhaps I'm going to have to take another week off from writing to do that, and to help myself decide on my character's fate.I'm loath to do it, but time spent planning is not time wasted I keep telling myself.
So, death hovers over her head, for a little while longer.
Two reasons one understandable, one less so. First, I have been away for a week in Stockholm, work-related and that proved impossible to combine with keeping up my galloping rate of writing. Fair enough, I'm back, things should be back to normal. But, something else is holding me up. I'm virtually at the end of a section, which should then lead me into the last part of the book (yes, so 150,000 words and not finished). But I'm struggling with two options for the same character/s, and I just can't yet decide what to do. One involves death now, one involves death later. I'm sure the Grim Reaper doesn't have these problems. When do you kill a much-loved character? (well, much-loved by me and you hope eventually the readers). That's something I'm still trying to judge in this case, and can't seem to resolve. But my real problem here is the galloping writing rate. Somehow my planning has slipped behind, and I now don't have a chapter plan for the last part of this book. So perhaps I'm going to have to take another week off from writing to do that, and to help myself decide on my character's fate.I'm loath to do it, but time spent planning is not time wasted I keep telling myself.
So, death hovers over her head, for a little while longer.
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