Clee Hill: Blog

Quick update, I'm fifteen chapters in on a run of twenty-two, with the rest on course, plotted out, and ready for me to draft down.

I've had to get a wrist rest to help with the typing as I have been typing a lot, with the word count thus far over 250,000 and possibly going to end up as high as 350,000 by the time it gets finished and uploaded.

No false promises of when other than when it's ready, but I'm going to pass directly from finishing the first draft stage into the editing and publishing stage, and once I've a better guide on when, I'll pass it on.

Meanwhile, Luke et al have a few adventures left to them in the last few chapters, some surprising people to meet, places to go, and mysteries to have deepened. Plus plenty of nudity, occasional Welsh, and lots of walnuts.

Clee

For all those kind readers who drop me a sitemail from time to time, asking for an update on Book Two - here it is.

* Those pesky Real Life issues that had been hanging over me for the past few months (nothing bad, just highly distracting and energy draining) are now over, meaning I can keep working much closer to full-time than I had been able to.

* I have a title, but I'll hold that back for now, even though, like Book One's title, it is not readily apparent what it means.

* I have completed first drafts for the first nine days.

* I am working on day ten this week.

* I have outlines in my head for what needs to happen for days eleven through fifteen.

* Book Two will probably wrap up around chapter twenty-two, but this is subject to change if plot necessitates it.

* Once I'm ready to upload 2:1, I'll uploaded the revised 1:15, as well as blog it, too.

* This is a lot of story. Thus far the first drafts are closing in on 150,000 words, and I may be only just at the half-way point.

* By the end of Book Two, more of The Thing's workings are known, but final revelation may be for Book Three, or I may conclude Book Two and come back to Book Three later, once I've had my knuckles fitted with bionics.

And of course, it won't appear until it's ready, but I am working to get the release of Book Two started by the end of the year, at which time new characters, situations, and puzzles will reveal themselves.

Cheers...Clee

Quick update for those following these things, one of the two RL issues has passed, so I've been able to get into the first drafts on a meaningful basis.

At the moment, it looks like this Book will cover two to three weeks, chronologically, but each day will not always be a chapter on its own, and some will be combined into one chapter. After all, it is not realistic to have something happen every day, after day, after day.

You get the idea.

For now I'm four chapters done, fifth underway, with six, seven, eight, and nine pretty well mapped out, but after that it gets a little hazy for now.

So, it's under way, it'll be ready when it is, and Luke's adventures with Stef and Leri will continue, with puns and more Welsh, too.

Cheers...Clee

For those keeping track of things:

* Plotting going well.

* First drafts...progressing.

* But real life is militating against getting into this with gusto. Grr.

It will come, but a little slower than I hoped.

Ho hum.

Thank goodness for gin, Pokemon, and my Diddley Bow.

Clee

Okay, this is not going to plan.

As I plot away on Book Two, it is becoming clear how much trouble I have created for myself in ending Book One as I did. It is taking so long to rationalise and normalise the consequences of that ending, that it is threatening to destabilise Book Two. I am finding I need to consume so much time in explaining things away that Book Two is in danger of losing its focus from Luke and Stef and Leri. That ending is beginning to cost me the tone and believability Book One has already established.

Dilemma.

Resolving this is also not helped by real world issues which will consume much of this month.

For now this leaves Book Two bubbling away in my subconscious for the most part, along with the mad idea of revising the ending of Book One so that Aurilla is displaced elsewhere, possibly entirely.

After all, how much should fidelity to a year old idea concerning The Thing be allowed to derail the emergent joy of Wilhelm, namely the Luke/Stef/Leri triangle?

Increasingly less so, it seems to me.

We'll see...CH