Tag: Beyond The Law

Progress and Pleasure

On By TomIn Achievement, author honesty, author ideas, beta readers, collections, editing, General, Insight, killing your darlings, Novel, reading, series, thriller, work in progress, writing2 Comments

MacLennan has been one of those stories that started well, then, like a fighter jet in a climb, stalled and, for a while, looked like it would come screaming back to earth. Fortunately, having been trained to deal with such frightening situations (the story stalling, not the jet), I fought the controls, and moments before I blacked out from the G-force, I pulled out of the dive and flew on to continue the mission.

Apart from amending both the strap line and the blurb, the more astute among you will have noticed that I’ve also changed the spelling from McLennan to MacLennan. There is a reason for the specific spelling, and it is revealed within the story. 

The first draft is now complete, at 120,000 words, so the easy part is done. I’m certain that when I’ve reread from the beginning, and made copious separate notes, the word count will reduce and increase with each successive edit. Fellow authors familiar with my method and work will know that I don’t set a tight publication deadline, so the ballpark date is late March/early April 2026.

What was the secret weapon that brought me back from the headache of rewriting scenes and switching characters in and out?

Two things brought the story clearly into focus, and both were character-related.

The first was the introduction of Helen, whom the main character meets early in the story. She, in turn, takes an interest in his situation, and by coincidence, she has a contact who regularly deals with such issues as MacLennan’s. I was reminded of when I wrote Crusader, and how Constance captured my imagination when she came on the scene.

Suffice to say, that once again, I’ve employed a blend of fast-paced action and violence, combined with brief periods of a more settled nature. Importantly, as the tale developed, I began to enjoy it more, and for me, that is crucial. If I don’t find pleasure in the writing, the end product won’t work for readers. Fans of my Beyond The Law trilogy and the spin-offs will be pleased to know that a few old (and young) favourites make an appearance.

As I said earlier in this post, the easy part is now done, so over the following three months, I’ll reread the manuscript, edit it, print it, reread it, edit it again, rest it, and continue with that sequence until I feel it’s ready for beta readers to both enjoy and dissect for feedback.

For anyone interested in seeing how MacLennan gets underway, I’ve updated the first chapter here on my blog. As a guide, Chapter 1 – The Invisible Man is 3,200 words, so about the equivalent of a short story.

Yes, Codename: Larkspur is an addition to my Work in Progress list, and another spin-off from my BTL ‘universe’ as Rudders refers to the stories. I aim to produce an introductory chapter soon to offer a flavour of how Helen evolved to become Larkspur.

As always, comments are welcome, and thank you for reading.

Crusader … is available

On By TomIn Achievement, author honesty, author ideas, beta readers, collections, editing, General, Insight, killing your darlings, Novel, paperback, paperbacks, Promotion, reading, relaxation, Review, self-publishing, series, thriller, work in progress, writing

Crusader is available as an eBook, and the paperback edition will follow soon.

Once again, I immersed myself in the story, aiming to create not only believable, but memorable characters and situations. There are only so many plots irrespective of the genre, so it’s the duty of the author to create twists and turns to develop the tale from the first word to the last.

Writers often create a formula which works for their readers, and while this is acceptable, it is the differences that will spell success or failure for an individual story.

Another area that can affect how a new tale is received is the length. My first draft of this story ended at 120k words. It took a lot of work to reduce it to 112k words which is how it went out to my beta readers. In response to their feedback, and because I wanted to tighten up the narrative, I reduced the content to 106k words.

As explained in a previous post, my secondary character was taking centre stage too often, so I removed whole chapters, and Constance deserved her own story. You’ll see from my Work in Progress that her tale will be the sequel to Crusader.

For those of you interested in such things, a handful of characters from the Beyond The Law and Codename titles play cameo roles in Crusader, and they earn the right to be there. I may get Constance: Crusader – Part 2, underway, but I’m in no rush. It has to feel like a different hero taking the lead, and to create that, I must leave the Jason and Constance team alone for a short while.

If you’ve never read my crime thrillers, this would be a good one to try. If you have read my work, I’m confident that you’ll enjoy Crusader.

Thank you, once again for valuable input from fellow author, Carmen Lopez, and from IASD authors: Lesley Hayes, Barbara Speake, Penny Luker, and Ruth Coulson.

My thanks also to those who take the time to read my work, and this writing blog.

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