Clee Hill: Blog

Oh. My. God.

As Luke would say.

I just checked this morning, and though I know the numbers are a bit iffy in the way first chapters of a story can be cached in advance, today The Wilhelm Scream just passed 100,000 chapter downloads.

That is utterly incredible and deeply humbling.

This is no false modesty, but when I started this story I knew I'd get a few readers, but nothing like this.

Wilhelm was all born out of a frustration that I couldn't find the kind of incest story I like, where the author focuses deeply on the characters so we get to see why they cross that boundary. Of course, SOL being what it is, that might have been a little optimistic of me, but over the years I've read a deal of well written character pieces, so it's not beyond the reals of possibility to imagine somewhere in the archives there is such a story. Maybe there is, and I just never stumbled upon it.

Be that as it may, Wilhelm began as nothing more as a way to create two interesting characters, and explore how they would feel and respond as they drew closer and closer. Not wanting to write any kind of a heavy drama on the often abusive and tragic reality of such relationships, I worked hard to keep the story light and fun, with bad jokes and puns and wordplay aplenty.

Once I'd got the first chapter done, I posted it up here as I got to work on the rest of the story, never expecting to get much of a response.

I was wrong.

The Wilhelm Scream has generated more feedback, been read by more people, and scored higher than anything else I've ever posted here, and as someone who rather works from an ivory tower, it is heartening to me to learn that these characters and their story is enjoyed by so many and resonates so much.

So, to everyone who has read Wilhelm, enjoyed it, scored it, and wrote to me about it, my deepest and sincerest thanks.

CH

And the penultimate chapter is in the queue for posting.

As ever, 1000 gold stars to anyone who points out a goof for me.

Interesting chapter, as more is learned, certain things are headed for, and Leri someone manages to take part even though she's up at the top end of the country.

Meanwhile, it's time to finish chapter fifteen and bring Book One to a conclusion. A dramatic conclusion...

Cheers...CH

As someone once sang, and now, the end is near.

This has been quite a journey for me, taking something that started out as not much more than a heavily sketched out idea back last summer and sticking with it through the next seven or eight months to turn into much more than it began as.

With chapter thirteen up this week, I'm busy writing out chapter fourteen, and preparing for the fifteenth and final chapter, there being no narrative need to delay the final day's events, hence their being brought forward a day.

What a wild fortnight it has been for Luke!

It's also something of a curious feeling for me, to know I'm about to get to that final scene, the scene that's been in my mind all this time, that I've sown the seeds of through all kinds of scenes and places, and which will change their whole world.

I've also sown a few seeds for Book Two, too.

Over the course of these past few months, I've turned my desire to read exactly this kind of story into some quarter of a million words exploring the lives of Luke and Stef, Leri, and all the other secondary characters, and all the while The Thing has been present in the background and sometimes in the foreground.

And now it's almost done.

Once that final chapter is out, there will be a gap for a little while as I get Book Two properly plotted out, decide what characters I need to bring in and where, and how to get from the end of Book One to the end of Book Two. Again, I know pretty much where I'm headed, it's all a matter of how to get Luke and Stef and Leri there.

Moreover, after the humbling amount of positive response I've had for this story (some of which has been really touching to read, to know how much people have enjoyed this story) I need to decide what to so with them after Book Two's conclusion. Right now, I don't know whether or not there will be a Book Three, though I anticipate I will know this better once I work out the details of Book Two's plot.

So there we have it. By far my longest, most carefully constructed, and most thought about single piece of writing, and something I'm immensely proud to have achieved.

All I can add is thank God for all those videos on YouTube of summer afternoon ambiences, they've been a real help as background as I write in the depths of a Scottish winter.

CH

Just a quick heads up that the next chapter is in the submission queue.

Another long chapter, this time Stef gets to see something new, Luke gets to try something new, and Leri is very willing to embrace the new.

Much fun, some verbal gymnastics, a smattering of Welsh, and a warning about the consequences of using ice water.

Oh, and The Thing has something going on with it, too.

As ever, if anyone spots a goof that got past me and my proof-reader, let me know for a gold star and a fix.

Cheers...CH

No, not that way.

Leri is proving to be an interesting injection into the narrative of Luke and Stef.

On the one hand, she is certainly a dynamic force that is making the Rowdens re-think certain things in terms of sooner rather than later.

It's also fun, as the author, to write a second female protagonist for Luke who shares characteristics with Stef, but is not 'Stef lite'. Moreover, not only is it fun to write Luke's differing responses to the two women, but that those two women are also best friends adds a certain frisson to every encounter because, as we all 'know', women talk.

However, my subconscious seems far too willing to give Leri her head and come up with all kinds of scenarious that could work, but that would derail the plans set down for the remainder of Book One. To make matters worse, it's not that the ideas are bad per se, but they would mean the remainder of Book One would head into some of the territory that was being held back for Book Two. Or just new territory altogether.

The solution for this, which works for plot and internal coherence even if it is an authorial cheat, is that she's away for the weekend, able to reach the Rowdens by phone, but she's not there.

Going forward into Book Two, I can see her arc will need to be plotted down carefully, carved into stone, set in iron, and then encased in bullet-proof glass to stop her from acting up, disrupting, and distracting.

Don't get me wrong, I like the personality I have created for her and I fully understand her utility in terms of the narrative, but she is also a very seductive perspective to take.

As a friend observed when discussing the process of writing with them, there is a sometimes staggering amount of thought, sweat, and sheer hard work that goes into writing a story. In Leri's case, times two.

Ah well, at least the back-breaking draft of chapter thirteen is done. A day or two off, a day or two editing, then to the proof-reader ahead of publication, likely the middle of next week. As for the content of chapter thirteen, beware of dancing in a rainstorm.

CH