Marc Nobbs: Blog

On 20th December last year, I shared a post explaining that I had decided to split the ‘final’ book in The Paul Robertson Saga into two parts, and that I considered Book 5: A Loving Light to be a complete first draft—ready for editing and refinement before publication.

And that was the last time you heard from me. It’s been nearly three months.

If you’ve been wondering what happened to the updates, the short answer is: I’ve been busy writing.

At around 145,000 words, A Loving Light brings to a close the journey that began with Paul in A Good Man. By the end of that story, he has found peace within himself, we discover who his life partner will be, and he becomes ‘Version 1.0’ of the man he will ultimately grow into—the man we glimpse in the various prologues set in 2048.

But while writing it, I realised something important.

The story wasn’t finished.

During A Loving Light, I had created several plot threads that clearly needed to be followed through to their conclusion. My original plan had been to resolve them within the same book, but eventually it became obvious that these threads were not really part of the journey Paul began in A Good Man.

They are a different story.

And, in many ways, they are not really Paul’s story.

Paul himself acknowledges this in the prologue to the next book, We Hear You. He says:

“What follows from here isn’t my story. Not really.
It’s theirs. The people whose lives we affected.
I provided the stage, Lana was the ethical and moral spine, Carly held the microphone, and Marcus amplified her voice beyond what we ever dreamed was possible. But the story—the movement—belongs to the young people around the world who embraced it.
But I was there. I witnessed it from the wings. And it’s a story that deserves to be shared.
So I’ll do my best to do it justice.”

So over the past three months, instead of editing A Loving Light, I’ve been doing something else entirely.

I’ve been writing the first draft of We Hear You.

And as of today… I think that first draft is now complete as well.

Or at least, complete enough.

The chapter I finished earlier today feels like a natural pause in the story—a place to stop for a moment, reflect, and take a breath before continuing. There is still a lot more story to tell, but after roughly 160,000 words, it felt like the right place to stop.

Which means that I now have two first drafts to edit and refine.

And, of course, I still need to write what was originally intended to be Book 7.

Although I’m starting to wonder if We Hear You is really the sixth book in The Paul Robertson Saga… or if it’s actually the first book in a new saga that Paul simply continues to narrate.

One thing I can say for certain is that I’ve genuinely enjoyed writing We Hear You. It has involved a lot of research—and I’ve learned a great deal along the way. Hopefully, that learning and the depth of the research will come through in the story.

But I suppose I’ll have to wait and find that out.

So what happens now?

Well, it’s definitely time to get on with the editing of A Loving Light. But I’ll also continue working on what comes next—whether that turns out to be Book 7… or Book 2 of something new.

I’ll try to be a little more regular with these updates going forward.

But I’m sure you know how it is.

When the words are flowing, and the plot ideas keep coming, you don’t really want to stop and spend half an hour writing a blog post.

You just want to get on with writing the damn book.

Firstly, I know that I've got a bunch of messages on here that I haven't responded to, and I apologise to everyone for that. I have read all the messages, but I just haven't had the time to reply. I will try to get to them this weekend.

So, moving forward, I want to say a public thank you to all who read my draft of A Loving Light and provided the feedback I needed to make a decision. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your opinion.

And as a result of all the feedback, I’ve made the decision I needed to make, and I’m making it with confidence.

And I can now announce two things.

1) The first draft of A Loving Light is now complete. Over the Christmas break and into the New Year, I will begin working on editing it, polishing it into a diamond I can release to the public. That typically takes a couple of months, so you can anticipate the release of the book towards the end of the first quarter of 2026.

2) There will be a sixth book in the Paul Robertson series.

Paul’s “Journey” is complete as of the end of A Loving Light. I believe it’s a satisfying conclusion to the main story. But there is a compelling continuing story I want to tell after that final moment in the book, and I will tell it in a sixth book. I’ve already written 50,000 words of the sixth book, so it’s proceeding well.

I had originally intended for this “extra” story to be like an extended epilogue, but there is simply too much story to tell for that, so after seeking the opinion of some actual readers, I have decided to make it into its own, separate book. And I’m happy with that decision.

Many thanks to those who responded to my request for a volunteer. From the responses to the specific question I asked, I think I have a clearer idea of what I want to do.

I'll post an update on that in the coming days/weeks.

I'm looking for a volunteer to read an unfinished, very rough, unpolished manuscript, in order to answer one question that I have about it. The manuscript is almost 170,000 words, and you will need to be familiar with the four existing books in the Paul Robertson Saga.

I'm not looking for an editor or 'beta-reader' per se - I just have one very specific question that I want someone else's opinion on.

Drop me a DM if this is something you're interested in helping with. Thanks.

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.