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.