work in progress

Sylvia is the character who is occupying much of my time recently. When I wrote Light at The End, it was intended as a standalone, but although it was a fulfilling story to write, there was more to say, and so it became the first of a trilogy.

In much the same way, I ended the third book in the LaTE trilogy feeling that the job was done, and then while working on something completely different I was nagged by the thought that Sylvia’s story ought to be told. She made several appearances in Dark to Light (LaTE – Book 3), but it was more of a cameo role. By implication, Sylvia continued beyond the main story, and so I feel justified in giving her a starring role.

I’ve shelved my other two new novels while I devote many of my daylight hours to Sylvia. To tell one person’s story might be fun for the author, but it’s the reader’s satisfaction which ought to be the author’s primary aim. With this in mind, I’ve created a well-rounded back-story for my leading lady and, of course, there will be interaction with old and new characters in the wider arena of the post-apocalyptic world in which she lives.

Other projects will be tackled whenever I leave Sylvia aside for a regular ‘rest’.

The frontrunner in other work, and my next anthology, is Next Steps: and other stories . I now have my seven stories written to first draft stage, and next week I’ll revisit them to see where any early improvements might be made. I’ll leave them aside again until March and revisit before they go to beta readers.

In March, I’ll give a heads-up to those authors who suggested the ‘dialogue prompts’ which I used for my seven stories. This will hopefully provide the impetus for my guests to check out the submissions they are offering for the new collection. Publishing date at present might be as early as April or May.

What else have I been up to since this new year got underway?

I’ve been working hard to produce my novels as paperback versions and I now have the job done. I’ll be writing a dedicated post about the process, or as it became for me, the ‘journey’, but for now, I’ll give you a look at a few of my efforts. I’ll display the full range of my paperbacks in March.

As always, thank you for taking an interest in my work.

***

Occasionally, when an author finds inspiration for a new story, a few notes are made, ideas become words and they quickly build into sentences. A fictional world is created, characters are born, and then problems are introduced by the author.

In the case of Czech Mate, the problems were in the real world. I visited Prague in September 2017 and within hours I had an idea and was making notes. I arrived back in the UK after my holiday and the new story was allotted time among other projects. It was about four months later when I shelved the unfinished manuscript, written in the first-person point of view.

My ‘Czech Mate’ idea didn’t have sufficient intrigue and would need time to develop in my head. Fortunately, I maintain two or more Work in Progress (WIP), so I was content to move on to something else. Although this book wasn’t getting much attention I was producing other stories so my output wasn’t an issue.

In November 2018, Czech Mate was put on hold again, having been reworked in third-person point of view. Throughout 2019 I pulled the manuscript out and wrote brief passages to build on my initial idea. It was early in 2020 before I had my Eureka moment. The basic plot remained the same but the detail of the story took on a life of its own with the introduction of two fresh characters.