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It’s been over a month since my last post, and for a good reason. I’ve been focusing all my spare energy on the fifth Paul Robertson novel—tentatively titled A Loving Light—and have made some significant progress. This title ties in with the ending of “A Healing Love,” directly referencing the song that is at the heart of the book’s climax.
My manuscript is currently over 95,000 words long. It picks up the story directly after the end of the last book, with a time jump from Wednesday to the following weekend. Although it only covers about two weeks of Paul’s life, these are two weeks of enormous change and significance. So much so, that I’ll be re-evaluating the time scale in the next draft. I need to ensure that this amount of change over such a short period feels realistic to the reader.
Currently, I believe it is because of all the things that happen to trigger those changes in Paul. We’re finally seeing the man Paul is destined to become and the crucible of events that forges him. He is forced to accept the responsibilities that come with his wealth and with the ‘mission’ that he’s given himself to do something good with it. We’re seeing him build a true ‘team’ around him, and I really, really, like some of the new characters I’ve introduced that are part of that team.
Paul also grapples with the stark contrast between his mundane student life…and the high-stakes world of business he’s now entered.
And, of course, readers will see Paul slowly begin to realise what many of you have no doubt already realised—just who the song “Love’s Light” is about. We’re seeing Paul finally see the ‘silent hopeful tenderness’ in her eyes and the ‘gentle love’ she holds in her hands.
As always, writing a narrative like this presents a few challenges. One of those is that one arc of this novel is screaming out for a spin-off to continue that particular narrative in Paul’s absence. The other big issue is going to be, where do I end this novel? At this 95,000-word point, Paul is so, so close to making the breakthrough we as readers need him to make. But the simple resolution and reveal of who Paul’s wife from the ‘future’ prologues is, won’t, in and of itself, make a satisfying ending—there are too many loose ends that will need to be tidied up.
There are some scenes that I’m itching to write, which will tie up some of those threads. However, I think the narrative arc that’s crying out for a spin-off needs Paul’s direct involvement to resolve. This is crucial to bring his epic journey to a place where I can confidently tell you, the reader, that he’s in a good place. That he’s a very early version of the man he will become, but the rest of his journey through life is his and his alone—your time with him is now over.
That said, who knows, maybe I’ll need to revisit Paul in the future. Perhaps pick up his story again a few years down the line. Marriage? Kids? How do they affect him? What happens to his businesses?
Or maybe Paul becomes a supporting character in someone else’s future novel, in much the same way that Will and Chloe have become supporting characters in Paul’s story.
I don’t know. That’s for the future. For now, I want to wrap up Paul’s story in a satisfying way. And I’m happy to report that I’m well on the way to doing that.
It looks like I accidentally marked A Healing Love as Complete when I submitted today's chapter a couple of weeks ago.
To be clear, it's not complete, there are half a dozen chapters to go.
I've asked the admins to change it and mark it as in progress again.
One thing I noticed while working on the first draft of ‘A Healing Love’ is how much my writing has evolved since 2011, when ‘A Good Man’ was completed. Fourteen years is a long time, so this shouldn’t be a surprise.
Of course, ‘better’ is subjective, but to me it means that my writing is more ‘mature’ and less naive. Additionally, having spent a considerable amount of time with these characters, I now understand them much better than I did previously.
So I decided to improve the quality of the writing in ‘A Good Man’ to match the standard of ‘A Healing Love.’ I can do this, of course, because I am not ‘traditionally’ published, so I am in complete creative control over my work and can do with it whatever I like.
It’s a challenging task. I don’t want to alter the narrative—the story’s plot. My aim is to enhance the ‘quality’ and ‘maturity’ of the prose and dialogue, while also adding some details that foreshadow future events in the series where possible.
As I write, I’ve reviewed and updated forty-one of the forty-seven chapters in the book (excluding the prologue and epilogue). I’m truly proud of some of the revisions I’ve made.
For example, the scene between Paul and Will in chapters nineteen and twenty is now much more emotionally impactful and portrays Will more convincingly as Paul’s “surrogate father.” The whiskey tasting, in particular, has been completely transformed into something truly profound.
Similarly, all the intimate scenes between Paul and Clarissa are now more rooted in the emotion of each encounter, rather than the mechanics of where body parts went, which, to me, makes them much more satisfying.
You can find the updated chapters on SOL. When I’ve finished updating the whole book, I’ll issue an updated copy to Amazon and the other e-book stores. I can’t wait for you to experience this enhanced version of the first steps on Paul’s epic coming-of-age journey.
Chapter 12 of "A Healing Love" was posted today and features the song "Not Invisible" by Kayla Valentine.
I wrote the lyrics to the song, but then used Suno to generate an AI version (using my lyrics). You can hear that version on my website now.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been doing a thorough edit and revision of A Good Man, the first book in the Paul Robertson Saga.
I've just completed the revision of chapter 20, which is almost halfway through the story. The edits and modifications do not alter the narrative or characterisation, but they modernise and generally improve the prose and dialogue. I'm a better writer now than I was 14 years ago, and I hope I'm bringing that experience to the story.
I'm particularly pleased with the revisions to chapters 19 & 20. I believe I've completely transformed these from something of a dry infodump into genuine and worthwhile character work, enhancing the mentor-mentee-surrogate father-son relationship between Will and Paul. The whiskey tasting scene in particular is something I'm really quite proud of now.
Of course, I'm only halfway through the book, and I'm posting revised chapters as they are posted. This means that right now, the story will feel a little disjointed as you read through it and encounter the original 2011 text. I know that many people are reading this story at the moment, with the release of A Healing Love, the fourth book in the series. So, whether you are reading it for the first time or reading it to remind yourself of the story before tackling A Healing Love, please be aware of the situation.
I really hope that the revisions are well received.
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