~
31 August 2009
The 31st has arrived and I have missed my target by one chapter. Still, chapter thirteen has been completed today and I should imagine it will take me a further few weeks to second draft fourteen and final polish one and two, which should mean I will be in a position to begin the process of trying to sell the novel by late September or early October. I would prefer to begin now but my mind doesn’t multitask too well so I will complete fourteen and final polish one and two first and then I will be able to focus on putting together a great package for publishers and agents.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 13 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 14 Awaiting second draft |
~
21 August 2009
Chapter twelve has been completed and instead of taking a moment to draw breath I have immediately begun the second draft of chapter thirteen. It’s looking less and less likely that I will meet my 31 August target, but that’s okay, for the fact the target exists is pushing me to work hard. I still do hope to begin the search for an agent and a publisher in September, but the search probably won’t begin on 1 September as planned, as I am increasingly of the opinion I need to finish the second drafts of the final chapters first.
Once they have been completed, I can then focus on the final polish of the first two chapters, as these chapters will form the basis of the package that will be sent to agents and publishers. Once the first two chapters are complete I will switch into selling mode while final polishing the rest of the novel.
It might seem that I keep changing my mind about when and how I’m going to do things, but I’ve found this path is frequently about little adjustments, little re-calibrations in what I do and when. The goal remains the same – to be published – but I’ve learnt I need to be flexible in how I go about achieving that goal.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 12 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 13 & 14 Awaiting second draft |
~
12 August 2009
Chapter eleven is in the bag, although I have fallen behind somewhat on my target to finish the final chapters before 31 August. I think no matter where I am by 31 August I am going to begin the process of selling the novel on 1 September. I will keep plugging at it and perhaps I will make up some ground in the coming days and still manage to finish by 31 August.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 11 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 12 to 14 Awaiting second draft |
~
1 August 2009
Another of the chief components I have found works well for me is ‘discipline’. I’ve learnt that only through discipline do I make any real progress. If I had waited for an elusive burst of inspiration or let a wretched mood prevent me from working I’m sure I would still be back in the early stages of chapter four.
I’ve found that a disciplined, daily rhythm is essential to good writing and to making progress and even if I only write for half an hour and the work feels horribly contrived and comes out as a load of old rubbish that eventually gets binned, it doesn’t matter. I have to just do it, because if I don’t, my feel for writing quickly ebbs away and it takes forever to get back into the groove, so I’ve learnt to ignore the gripes and moans and to get on with it whether I have a headache or not, whether I am inspired or not, tired or not, and the result I am happy to say is I am a few weeks away from completing the novel. Songs should be written about discipline.
The drafting of the final five chapters is presently going well: I’ve completed chapter ten, so that’s one down with four to go and I just need to maintain my discipline in order to meet my 31 August target for completing the final chapters.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 10 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 11 to 14 Awaiting second draft |
~
24 July 2009
Following the joy at writing the last line yesterday, the reality of the work I have still to accomplish set in today. ‘There is no top to the mountain’.
I have also been thinking about the novel in terms of a product that needs to be sold, and I may be completely wrong about this but it occurs to me we’re in the middle of the summer holiday season and perhaps some businesses, such as literary agencies and publishers, may not gear back up to full speed until the beginning of September. The point being, and as I say this might be utter rubbish, September may be a good month to begin approaching agents and publishers.
So, with lethargy hanging from my arms as I begin second drafting the final chapters I thought I might challenge myself to completing the drafts by the end of August, that’s five chapters by 31 August, that’s one a week. Following that, and as I polish the piece, I can begin the effort to try and sell the novel. It’s quite a deadline, but it may on the one hand shake me out of my lethargy by giving me a clear, unambiguous focus and on the other I may catch the market at just the right time. Let’s see if it works.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 10 to 14 Awaiting second draft |
~
23 July 2009
At 15.23 today I wrote the last line of the last chapter. The first draft of the great hope, Meridian, is at last complete.
There is still a lot of work ahead of me and it begins with the second drafts of the final chapters. Once I have drafts I’m happy with I then need to begin the final polish and the process of trying to sell the novel.
Still, for this evening, I can put my feet up and let out a deep, contended sigh.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 10 to 14 Awaiting second draft |
~
21 July 2009
There will not be a fifteenth chapter.
I began the first draft of chapter fourteen without a fifteenth in mind and as soon as the seed for a fifteenth chapter had been planted two things happened almost immediately. The first was the pace of the draft slowed from an exhilarating sprint to a listless meander. The final five chapters are supposed to race at a terrific speed and so the first alarm that sounded alerted me to the problem I had with pace. The second alarm that sounded alerted me to the fact I was drafting with one eye on the document and the other on increasing the word count: I was creating paragraphs simply to fill space, which is a terrible thing to do, and a sure sign I was going down entirely the wrong road.
I think what happened, the reason why I felt a need for a fifteenth chapter, can be summed up in one word: nerves. I am approaching the end of the novel, for sure this time, and I think I may have been over compensating by over creating instead of focusing on a blistering, succinct finale, which is what is required for this piece. I have then canned the idea of a fifteenth chapter, I have also slashed approximately 2,000 dead words from chapter fourteen, and ever since I did those two things the final chapter has been soaring.
And so, as I stand at present, there are approximately 2,000 words left to write, and once these are in the bag the first draft of the novel’s closing chapters will be complete.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 10 to 14 In progress |
~
18 July 2009
This fascinating process is a dance, where my desire for the piece to turn and glide in one direction from time to time has to give way to the pull of my partner, the piece itself, as it turns and guides me in another direction instead.
And I really should know this by now, for just as I think I have finally understood the content of all the remaining scenes which need to be drafted and how they are to unfold, and just as I think I have finally, once and for all, nailed precisely when the novel will conclude, the story itself demands a further flourish.
Chapter fourteen is underway and while writing it I came to realise that once the draft is complete the piece needs a further and (dare I say it) ‘final’ chapter.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 10 to 14 In progress |
Chapter 15 To be written |
~
8 July 2009
It seems I often walk into pockets of thickened energy where drafting the story becomes tough and I have to just put my head down and trudge my way through difficult country where the vegetation is thick and I have to climb uphill against the wind. I’m presently slogging my way through chapter thirteen, I am battling lack of enthusiasm, my imagination seems to have dried up and I’m finding it hard to shine fresh light on my characters and story. It’s just a glitch, no more and no less, and the best response it to march on, for there will come a moment, perhaps soon, when the ground will thin and level out and I’ll find the wind at my back again.
Despite the difficulties, chapter thirteen is well underway and I hope to have the first draft in the bag by the end of this coming weekend.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 10 to 13 In progress |
Chapter 14 To be written |
~
16 June 2009
I am finally back in the groove, Meridian is ticking along nicely again, and the idea I had to first draft the novel’s final chapters all the way to the end of the book before I begin to polish seems to have been a good one: the first drafts of chapters ten and eleven are in the bag and I have begun the first draft of chapter twelve.
I sometimes find that when I first draft I often keep my eye too firmly on the word count, and as the word count clocks steadily upwards and I feel a chapter is not coming to a natural close I can sometimes push it to an unnatural conclusion, in order that I can retain the word count balance I like to have with chapters. The trick, of course, is to find an easy balance between content and word count, but I do sometimes apply pressure in this way rather than letting the natural flow of the piece decide where it wants to go and how long it wants to be.
So, during chapter ten I had an inkling I might need to add another chapter to fully complete the novel, but I resisted the pressure. During chapter eleven it was becoming increasingly obvious that I would need an extra chapter, and still I resisted the pressure. As I began chapter twelve, I finally gave in, as it’s crystal clear I need to draft a fourteenth chapter and if I don’t the novel will suffer greatly. As I stand at the minute, then, I have first drafted chapters ten and eleven, I have begun first drafting chapter twelve, and once completed, I will have chapters thirteen and fourteen left to write.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 10 to 12 In progress |
Chapter 13 & 14 To be written |
~
23 May 2009
I was watching Sir Ranulph Fiennes on the news the other day; he’s 65 years old and has just climbed Everest, an astonishing achievement. When the reporter asked about the mindset needed to attempt such a feat, he said, and I’m paraphrasing, “One foot in front of the other, you tell yourself there is no top to the mountain; you just plodding on.”
I made the near fatal mistake at the end of chapter nine of thinking I had nearly finished the novel. After the roots of the thought took hold, I imagined I could coast to the end of the story. I then began chapter ten with this mindset and merrily wrote 5,000 words. But I had an itch in the back of my mind throughout, something wasn’t right, and so eventually I read the work back, and I finally realised the writing had indeed come from a looser space, my foot was off the pedal. The work had lost its edge, the characterisation was thin at best and the story was drifting in completely the wrong direction. So, I took a breath, and binned all 5,000 words.
I restarted chapter ten just over a week ago and I am a little over half way through it, however, it has been a long, hard slog to get to this point. I have had to fight to get back into character, to feel the story again, to learn how to drive it forward and understand where it needs to go. Every word has been like pulling teeth. The results this time though are excellent; the novel is firmly back on track. But it was my own foolishness that had led to this diversion. So now, in my notebook, I have the following sentence on page one as a reminder:
“One foot in front of the other, there is no top of the mountain, just keep plodding on.”
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 10 In progress |
Chapters 11 to 13 To be written |
~
10 May 2009
Some of the softer tools of the trade I’ve learnt are: ‘listen to what the story requires’, ‘feel where it needs to go’, ‘stay in the flow, don’t always try to alter its path’ and ‘bend and weave with the story as feels right’. You can apply all the ‘hard’ writing technique in the world, but when it comes down to it, the objective is to actualise the mind’s musings, and for that ‘soft’, flexible tools are also required.
With the soft tools in mind, change is again upon Meridian: once I have completed the first draft of chapter ten I am not then going to go redraft the chapter until completion, as I have done with the previous chapters. I am, instead, going to first draft the remaining chapters all the way to the end of the story. On the one hand I know the characters and story well enough now to have the confidence to write this way, and on the other hand, I feel a need to complete the book. Of course, a first draft is by no means the completion of the novel, but it is a major step toward it and in many ways when I eventually draft that final sentence it will release a lot of pressure.
Something else that has changed is although I am half way through drafting chapter ten I have only covered the first two items of an eight point chapter plan. As I look ahead to what needs to written before the final chapter can unfold, it is clear that I will need to add at least one more chapter to the novel.
The Meridian Meter has therefore been amended to take into account the extra 5,500 words I need to draft to do full justice to the story:
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 10 In progress |
Chapters 11 to 13 To be written |
~
28 April 2009
The three-quarters mark has been reached: chapter nine has been completed, and this leaves just three chapters left to write. The next two chapters, ten and eleven, will be a roller coaster ‘set piece’ sequence followed by what I hope will be a sublime final chapter.
I’m feeling a little nervous as I begin chapter ten, for I desire so much to be able to do justice to the work I’ve completed so far, and although I feel I am capable of gathering the many strands together, an element of self-doubt has surfaced: am I really able to do it in a manner that does not feel contrived but organic and that is both gratifying and startling? We shall see.
The book is beginning to draw to a close, but there is still a lot of hard work ahead.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 9 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 10 In progress |
Chapters 11 & 12 To be written |
~
28 March 2009
The bump in the road dissolved and chapters seven and eight are complete and awaiting a final polish, and with the conclusion of the novel’s explosive middle set piece, I am now two thirds of the way through the story.
The next chapter, nine, will be a linking chapter, and it will explain the nature of one of the lead characters, and with it, the reason for the story itself will begin to unfold. Chapters ten and eleven will be a breakneck set piece that will hurtle the reader toward what I hope will be a sublime concluding chapter.
The only condition to this plan is I may have to add another chapter to the set piece I’m planning for ten and eleven. I have a lot of ground to cover in this section and it is possible I will only be able to do the material justice with three chapters. I hope it will only take two, simply because an extra chapter means an extra month or so of work! But if I need to write three, then three it will be.
The Meridian Meter has been moved on another notch:
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 8 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 9 In progress |
Chapters 10 to 12 To be written |
~
15 March 2009
I seem to have come across another bump in the road. For me, this writing business is not always a smooth and straight path; for the most part it is a steep, windy and narrow one.
Chapters seven and eight are not proving to be the quick hits I had hoped they were going to be. I think what I did was whizz through the first draft far too quickly, I think I was a little too laid back, cocky after the smooth success of chapter six, and although I’ve managed to broadly get the chapters down, I’m having to work really hard to shape them. The consequence is the novel has slowed to a crawl again.
To be the most effective, a delicate balance needs to be found, one where you put in effort and focus but not so much that you strangle the piece, where you are relaxed but not so much that the work becomes sloppy. It’s not always easy to find the sweet spot, but it is within it that the work soars. I’ll keep at it.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 6 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 7 & 8 In progress |
Chapters 9 to 12 To be written |
~
15 February 2009
Some time ago, I drafted the great hope’s story guidelines; they are, if you will, Meridian Maxims, pointers regarding style, content and the like, and one of those maxims refers to creating balanced chapters, both in terms of content and length. For me, balance is a key aesthetic and I partly achieve it by aiming at a specific word count per chapter, for Meridian the target is 5,500 words.
I find setting word count targets informs the writing process rather than stifling it; it affords me a degree of confidence because I know the parameters have been set, I know each chapter will play to a certain length because it feels right that they should and because it creates a rather elegant effect. It’s a method I’ve used for many years and I find it works very well.
With the target in mind, I begin each new chapter with a first draft that is essentially an information dump – I just write as fast as I can, the idea is to not to edit but to ‘get it down’. It’s the exhilarating side of storytelling where the characters trail blaze through the new chapter. I generally aim at a broad 4 to 4,500 words for a first draft.
The craft lies in the second and third drafts, and for me, this is when the beauty of storytelling emerges. The pace of the writing slows dramatically and the quality (hopefully) goes up markedly. The word count also increases steadily during these crafting drafts and will always eventually settle on or about the 5,500 target; so long as the chapter is balanced, a couple of hundred words either side is just fine.
The final draft is the polish, I iron out any remaining niggles and will often add a few last flourishes. Once the polish is complete, I then move onto the next chapter.
These carefully thought through constructions, however, just floated away when it came to drafting chapter seven, as I merrily overshot the target finishing up with a bloated 6,200 words. And as I read through the chapter I realised the first draft is far from complete; I need to write another 3,000 words at least. In the case of chapter seven, the demands of content overcame the word count. It’s not a huge problem, because the sequence is working well, so I am going to continue drafting it and once it’s finished it should split nice and evenly into two separate chapters.
With the additional work, it does mean the great hope is back to being a twelve chapter novel. Meridian Maxims have led to an amended Meridian Meter:
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 6 Awaiting final polish |
Chapters 7 & 8 In progress |
Chapters 9 to 12 To be written |
~
8 February 2009
From the ridiculous to the sublime: it took me two and a half long months to complete chapter five. This has been followed with a redraft of chapter two and the completion of chapter six in a little under four weeks!
I say it with caution, while crossing fingers, touching wood and avoiding black cats, but perhaps with the conclusion of the novel’s set up in chapter five, I have made it to the top of the mountain, and from here on in it will be a reasonably smooth descent down the opposite face. If this is really the case, then it is possible I may have the novel completed by the summer.
The Meridian Meter can be moved on another notch.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 6 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 7 In progress |
Chapters 8 to 11 To be written |
~
11 January 2009
After two and a half months, chapter five is finally finished! Despite the fact I had to grind it out, the chapter is vibrant and urgent, it really does sing, and in that respect I am thrilled. That said, two and a half months to write a chapter is shocking, and I won’t be at all pleased if the rest of the novel takes as long. I hope to get the pace back to six to eight weeks.
Chapter five concludes the set up of the story, all of the elements are at last in place and the rest of the novel can now unfold. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about the second half of the story, how characters will develop and what needs to take place and when, and I’ve realised I need six chapters to tell the rest of the story, not seven as I had originally planned.
So, the Meridian Meter has been amended to reflect this, and with the conclusion of chapter five, it has also been moved on a notch.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 5 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 6 In progress |
Chapters 7 to 11 To be written |
~
29 December 2008
If drafting Meridian is akin to running a marathon, then I am presently pushing myself through the most difficult mile so far; my limbs are aching, my breathing is ragged, and the finishing line feels distant and somewhat unreal.
A few years back, I studied fiction writing and over the years my tutor gave me some wonderful gems of advice. I always remember the very last tip he gave me, which was to ‘enjoy what you write’. I have to remind myself of this over and over at the moment, as chapter five is proving to be a hard slog, it is testing my resolve and I am struggling to finish it.
I think the reason for the difficulties is because chapter five is largely about the placement of the novel’s final pieces. By the conclusion of the chapter, the build-up will be complete: all of the characters motivations will be clear, the mechanisms that make up the plot will be finalised, and all will be set for the roller coaster second half arc which will conclude and resolve the set up.
I need to write only 1,200 words to conclude chapter five. I have no doubt I will get there, it’s just taking longer than I planned and is proving to be a bit of a headache. Hey ho. I’m sure all marathon runners have to push through trying miles.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 4 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 5 In progress |
Chapters 6 to 12 To be written |
~
6 December 2008
‘Show, don’t tell’ is a maxim that should be tattooed on the back of every writer’s hand. It’s one I wish I had remembered when I began Meridian’s chapter five a few weeks ago. I merrily charged into the first 2,500 words of the chapter only to realise I had my characters sat in a circle chatting about the plot – ahhhh!
It was useful to have gone down this road, for I developed the history of the story and I learnt more of my characters’ backgrounds, and even if the reader never finds out these details it informs me as to how the characters act and react, and so the writing becomes more natural as a consequence. So, yes, it was 2,500 words in the bin, but it wasn’t a waste of time or work. Nonetheless, it was a definite wrong turn from a story telling perspective and it’s a sin I hope not to commit again.
Chapter five is back on track and I am very happy to say the story is progressing nicely again. Last week I wrote the sweetest scene I think I have ever written, it’s a sequence where the two lead characters express love in a manner that is both quiet and natural. It’s not a scene about perfection and confidence, it’s about the characters being nervous, clumsy and unsure, and I love it.
I hope to have the first draft of chapter five in the bag by Christmas, with a polish possibly completed by early January.
In addition, my review of the first four chapters is complete with new drafts of chapters one and two published here on the site.
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 4 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 5 In progress |
Chapters 6 to 12 To be written |
~
15 November 2008
I had always intended to redraft and then publish an old story called Descent, and I was going to do it in instalments while I wrote Meridian in the background. It quickly became obvious though that drafting anything other than Meridian was a distraction. So, I then decided that after Meridian was complete, I would go back to Descent and continue as planned. That is no longer going to work out either, for I’ve come to realise I’ve moved on, and Descent is no longer a story I’d like to put energy into. It seems it’s time to let it go.
Meridian’s opening chapters and The Brief Life of Tia Green will remain on the site as an example of my work, and I shall of course keep updating these riveting news pages as to how the great hope is progressing.
Richard
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 4 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 5 In progress |
Chapters 6 to 12 To be written |
~
30 October 2008
The milestone has been reached! I have completed one third of the great hope; Meridian’s chapter four is in the bag.
I’m going to take a short break, followed by a thorough read-through of the story so far. This will allow me to mould it a little here, sculpt it a little there and generally feel how it’s all flowing as one piece. Then, it will be full steam ahead on chapter five, and although I’ve not yet begun it, it nonetheless feels appropriate to move the Meridian Meter on a notch.
Richard
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 4 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 5 In progress |
Chapters 6 to 12 To be written |
~
25 October 2008
Meridian’s chapter four is almost complete. It seems each chapter is taking approximately six to eight weeks to write, which means there is about a year to go before I will finish the novel. It’s a shame it’s taking so long, but I do have a fulltime job and that does slow me down somewhat. Perhaps one day all this work will pay off and I will be able to write fulltime instead.
The great hope is progressing nicely. Chapters three and four are a grand ‘set piece’ where the main themes of the novel are brought into a sharper light. Chapter five will be a link to the middle set piece, a sequence where the fit will really hit the shan. This will be followed by a linking chapter to the novel’s final set piece which will conclude the story. Phew!
There is a long way to go and a lot of hard work to be done. Still, in about a week’s time I will have put the finishing touches to chapter four, and this will mean a major milestone has been reached: one third of the story will be complete and awaiting a final polish.
Richard
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 3 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 4 In progress |
Chapters 5 to 12 To be written |
~
5 October 2008
I’m half way through the first draft of chapter four. Hopefully it won’t be too long and I’ll be able to put the chapter to bed.
In the meantime, here’s a little, handy, supremely tacky, visual representation of where I am with the great hope. What can I say, it’s a slow news day.
Richard
Meridian Meter
|
Chapters 1 to 3 Awaiting final polish |
Chapter 4 In progress |
Chapters 5 to 12 To be written |
~
20 September 2008
I’m putting the redraft of Descent to one side for the time being. I realised the other day it is going to take me quite some time to redraft Descent, and the process of redrafting it will take me away from Meridian. In addition, I think going back and forth between two very different stories will only hurt both. So, for the time being, the redraft of Descent is on hold. I will redraft and publish the piece once Meridian is complete.
Talking of which, I have finished the second draft chapter three, Severn’s Yard, of the great hope. It’s time to move onto the next chapter. I am officially one quarter of the way through the story. Just nine chapters to go!
The thing that makes the idea of writing another 50,000 words less scary is the fact I’ve found my groove again. Yah! I was really struggling with the story a few weeks back, and I was beginning to wonder whether Meridian would take years rather than months to write. So, I dropped all thought about what I am trying to achieve, I stopped thinking about story, character and construction; I simply trusted that somewhere inside I know what’s going on, and I just wrote and wrote, largely without pause, and hey presto, the mechanics of writing quickly clicked back into place and the new piece is starting to fly.
I think the real test of whether I’ve completely broken through the blockage will be chapter four. The first draft of the new chapter awaits.
Richard
~
6 September 2008
I’ve completed the first draft of Meridian’s chapter three, Severn’s Yard, all it needs is a polish which will come at the end of the book. Before I begin redrafting the chapter, I’m going to take my mind away from Meridian’s world for a moment and step back into Descent’s. I’m going to begin the redraft of Descent’s chapter one, and I hope to have it published in a couple of weeks or so.
I’ve decided I’m not going to publish any further chapters from Meridian. The first two chapters published on this site are a sample of the work. I hope that one day you will be able to read the remaining chapters from a beautifully bound hardback rather than an online version of the story.
Richard
~
14 August 2008
Descent’s prologue has been completed and published. I am aware it is only a morsel of an introduction, and it perhaps would have been better to publish chapter one alongside it, however, right now, I’m chomping at the bit to get back into Meridian, and would rather wait and take time to redraft chapter one properly once some more work on the great hope is in the bag.
Talking of which: Meridian’s story plan is complete, and I’m going to push the piece forward by completing chapter three, Severn’s Yard, over the next couple of weeks or so. I will publish it as soon as it is finished and then get on with the redraft of Descent’s first chapter: The Cauldron.
Richard
~
9 August 2008
I’ve written a brief introduction to Descent, just to give a flavour of the story.
While I redrafted The Brief Life of Tia Green over 2008’s middle months, I also wrote reams of notes for Meridian. I’m going to spend the next few days collating these and redrafting the story plan for the great hope.
Following that, the next item on the agenda is Descent’s prologue … coming soon.
Richard
~
6 August 2008
I’ve completed and published the redraft of Meridian’s chapter two, Anais and Albert. Jeradine’s revered leader takes to the stage, the mystery surrounding Petra is developed, and a new and shadowy figure with insights into the events is revealed, as Tian sinks to the bottom of a bottle. It’s all high drama in Meridian!
I’m going to take a short break from writing Meridian to begin the redraft of Descent. I hope to have the prologue of this explosive tale published in a couple of weeks.
Richard
~
26 July 2008
When I originally drafted chapter one of Meridian, it was a much longer chapter. I then split it in two thinking that was the right way to approach the story i.e. less words per chapter, easier to digest and all of that. However, I realised while redrafting the opening of the story that Meridian is the sort of piece that needs longer chapters. It’s not a music video with a dozen cuts a second; it’s a story that needs to take time to develop. Therefore, longer chapters suit what I’m trying to achieve, and so, the chapter I had split in two is whole again and awaiting a final polish, which will come once the novel has been completed. Plus, chapter one now has a title: Events.
The redraft of the opening of Meridian is going well and I hope to have chapter two, Anais and Albert, published in a couple of weeks or so.
Also, as time presses on I realised this news page would only grow in length, so I’ve created a news archive to … well, archive old news.
Richard
~
13 July 2008
I’ve completed the redraft of The Brief Life of Tia Green a week ahead of schedule! It’s great to finally complete the draft and to bring this little story to a close.
This blog has breathed so much new life into my writing; it is pushing me to work hard, which is wonderful, because as an unpublished writer I do often stare down the barrel of despair.
So, with this newfound enthusiasm driving me, I’m going to get back to Meridian for a few weeks and then begin the redraft and publishing in instalments of the novel I wrote before Tia Green, Descent.
Watch this space …
Richard
~
6 July 2008
I have reorganised the shop window a little.
Welcome - The recent posts now has a welcome page.
Meridian - The welcome page is followed by chapters from Meridian, the novel I am currently writing. Sometime during the next few weeks I will publish drafts of chapters three and four, so as to give a fuller flavour of the piece.
The Brief Life of Tia Green - Chapter six of Tia Green is still to be redrafted, and as I mentioned yesterday, I hope to have this final chapter published within the next two weeks.
Descent - The remaining posts are currently blank. As I write Meridian I intend to take breaks, perhaps every six weeks or so, and in those breaks I am going to redraft the story I wrote before Tia Green. It is called Descent, it is a ten chapter piece and will be published in instalments as each chapter is redrafted.
Richard
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5 July 2008
Tia encounters consequence in chapter five of The Brief Life of Tia Green, which is now complete and published.
I shall get to work on the final chapter, Mountains, which I hope to have published within the next two weeks. After that, I will return to drafting Meridian.
Richard
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22 June 2008
Night descends on the story as Tia’s absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Chapter four of The Brief Life of Tia Green is complete and posted. Chapter five will follow soon; I hope to have it posted by the end of the first week of July.
Richard
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7 June 2008
After a fair slog, the redraft of chapter three of The Brief Life of Tia Green is complete and now posted. I am so glad I decided to go back to Tia Green before continuing with Meridian; it’s such a joy to rediscover this wonderful character.
I’ve begun the redraft of chapter four and will post it as soon as it is complete, which I think will be within the next couple of weeks.
Richard
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1 June 2008
The development of my writing blog continues.
In 2005 I began a novel called Meridian and the basic idea behind the piece was to write a story about the collapse of reality. I wrote the first two chapters over a few months in 2005 and then for a number of reasons I decided to not only put the story aside but to give up the writing completely, once and for all. For two years I did not write a single word of fiction, but during that period I had a nagging voice in the back of mind that said the same thing, over and over again, ‘you should be writing, you’ve given up too early, there is still work to accomplish’.
I finally realised I had to give this whole writing escapade one last chance to succeed and in deciding what I should focus on I began by revisiting the original 2005 chapters, and I realised there was something in Meridian I could run with, something that fascinated me, and if the piece I chose to write really was to be ‘last chance saloon’ then why not go all out, bite off a massive subject, the collapse of reality, and see if I can make it fly. It felt right and so I decided to go for it. Meridian, then, is the great hope of at last succeeding as a writer and I have posted the first two chapters of the piece as a taste of what I hope to accomplish.
I have not forgotten about Tia Green. I am working on it and hope to have Chapter Three published by the end of next weekend, Sunday 8 June.
Richard
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19 May 2008
The redrafted versions of chapters one and two of The Brief Life of Tia Green are now available. I shall get cracking on chapter three. Hopefully, I will have it ready to post within the next couple of weeks.
Richard
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15 May 2008
I first had the idea for this blog after I read about an author who on the back of 30,000 online readers was offered a six-figure, two-book deal. I’m not so deluded as to expect such a response, but it was certainly the inspiration for putting my work ‘out there’ to see what might happen. I was so excited by this idea that I set up the site over the weekend on 9 May 2008, promptly posted an earlier piece of work in full, The Brief Life of Tia Green from 2004, and emailed out the link to the site.
Then, I actually took the time to read the story I’d just posted, only to realise that while I still love the characters and the story, my writing style had moved on dramatically in four years, and the piece that was online for the world to see actually required redrafting and was not in fact a true reflection of my current work.
This is why I took most of the story down and at the minute only a hastily redrafted chapter one is available. My plan is to redraft chapter one properly and then get stuck into redrafting chapter two. I hope to have both of these revised versions on the site by the end of this coming weekend.
Richard
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