Novel – Page 103

Windmill painting - acrylic on canvas — Windmill painting – acrylic on canvas

It’s been four weeks since my last ~~confession~~ , I mean blog post. What excuses can I offer? Well for a start there was the first week when I got to grips with my second romance ‘Discovering Amsterdam’ and got the first draft completed. That story is now in cold storage until I get my thriller e-published on Amazon. There will be excerpts from each of my novels on both this site and my website.

I was then on holiday for two weeks. The first week was spent in Germany where we were based in Cologne, but we travelled further afield as usual. Favourite places on this trip with lots of pictures taken were; Cochem in the Mosel Valley and Monschau which is about 800 years old. On returning to the UK we managed a day here and there for the next week. I dabbled in my writing, but I also painted.

I’ve been looking through my recent pictures and I’ve got them down to a shortlist. I want to paint a scene from the Mosel Valley and one from Monschau, but they will be a while coming because I’m doing them a bit bigger than usual. Results will appear on here when completed.

Having just returned from Germany perhaps I would be expected to paint something of that trip – but no, not me. I have my Amsterdam Collection of paintings that was still incomplete. I had a canal, a corner café and a Dutch East Indiaman (three-masted ship). I decided that what was lacking was a windmill – so that has now been sorted. I had pictures that I had taken a few months ago on a trip over there.

The thriller is about a vigilante and it’s had various working titles. I tend to change the title when I do the next draft because that way I can get used to seeing it and I consider if the particular title will work. The latest variation is ‘Hawk – A Vigilante’, which seems to tell the reader what the hero is all about.

My intention is to have someone else design the cover for me on this occasion. I can give a brief of the story and see what comes up and it might be better if another set of brain cells has a go at it. As for the story itself, I’m now on the third draft and the whole thing is already feeling better. What’s better about it? I’m ensuring for example that there is an action scene in every chapter, two in some of them. There will be more death and violence than in the first drafts too – it is about a vigilante after all. I’ll post a chapter or two on here as they are completed and then if anyone has an opinion they can voice it. I do appreciate feedback.

In keeping with the advice given by many successful writers, I have become a firm believer in leaving a piece of writing to one side. Stephen King is one such writer who suggests this idea in his book ‘On Writing’.

The idea, short story, chapter or entire first draft can be left in a drawer, tray or on file on a computer, but the important thing is that it is left alone. You the writer, will come back to the piece at some stage down the line and see it differently. It may be days, weeks or even months, but having already experimented with this theory – I know it works for me.

I have now reached a point where a short story is not released for public consumption until I have written at least three drafts – spread out with a week between each. Does that sound like a chore? Perhaps it is, but what if you manage to have at least three or more ideas on the go at any one time, as I constantly seem to do? That is where I believe it works.

Apart from short stories, I have my thriller ‘Hawk – A Manhunter’ patiently waiting for my return. I have reached the end of a second draft with it and haven’t revisited the manuscript for weeks now. I have taken the precaution of writing passages in a notebook when ideas come to mind so I have fresh new scenes to include in the next draft.

My new venture is ‘Discovering Amsterdam’ which was born from a suggestion by my very good friend and fellow writer Carmen. Yes, the same person who is acknowledged in the cover of my first novel, ‘10 Days in Panama’.

‘Discovering Amsterdam’ will be a romantic novel which looks at the relationship between Dan, a British writer/journalist and Crystal, an American Fashion Designer. The plot will see them meet in Amsterdam, having been in touch by email for over a year. Crystal is eager to trace her European ancestry and Dan is her sidekick in the quest.

During the project they will visit many of the wonderful museums found in Amsterdam and through their eyes so will the reader. Well, that’s the theory anyway. I have a basic knowledge of Amsterdam and it’s main museums but I will be double-checking any factual information with more than one source – plus another visit.

Thank you for reading – and a special thank you to anyone who managed to follow both Part 1 and Part 2 of this session.