Clee Hill: Blog

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

Book Two Chapter One.

Ouch.

This is the chapter that I need to get written, first, as it serves as the foundation for the future, establishing where to go from for a lot of characters, and how the plot can move forward toward the (already) known goal for the end of the book.

Consequently, there have been a lot of rewrites.

A lot.

The trick has been to balance doing what needs to be done without overbalancing the chapter in terms of plot, exposition, or heavy-handed foreshadowing.

Not at all easy.

As things stand, the first draft of C1 should be done sometime this week, after which I can turn ideas and intentions for the rest of the book into some kind of plot, whereupon the heavy writing takes place. So lots of incidents to develop, locations to scout, and a couple of new characters to bring into the mix.

Meantime, thank God for my electric Diddley Bow and homemade gin.

Cheers!
Clee

For those of you who notice these things, Chapter One just got reposted to fix an error we all missed.

Throughout the story it is established that Luke's Mum was not happy with him going into town on his own. In a later chapter he has to get special dispensation so he can arrange to go meet up with Leri.

But.

In Chapter One he walks into the story, home from town, where he'd been on his own.

Oops.

There's now a line of dialogue from Stef about this confirming he'd been given permission to go shopping on his own because he wanted to spend his birthday money.

Memto to self: more coffee.

Clee

Now that Wilhelm is complete, the second book is underway in terms of planning and outlining, with new chapters hopefully appearing around the end of summer, so long as there are no bumps on the road.

The story will be about Luke and Stef and Leri, but also about the mystery of The Thing, what it is, and how to deal with Aurilla's appearance.

Fun times ahead.

Clee