Back to the mojo stuff shortly, but another side effect of my renewed interest in writing was the thought I should refamiliarize myself with my novels and put them on my Kindle. Interesting to start reading them again and as well as discovering I quite enjoy them, finding phrases and scenes I have no memory of writing, but which are rather good.
As I was doing this, I thought I should put some of my incomplete works on too, to re-read on the train and see if they inspire me again, and I realised that I never really went back to the first novel I wrote, nearly thirty years ago, and never did the final edit on.
When I started writing again in lockdown, I did look back to earlier ms, which is where Man In The Bath originated, but I kept the first, provisionally and badly titled ‘Love Isn’t’ and didn’t rework. I’ve just been reading it again and its actually very good, imho. Part romance and with a larger cast than my early books (seven ‘leads’) it was a slightly different tone, but as it had been through a number of edits and revisions at the time, it wouldn’t take a huge amount to make it useable.
Two areas that need looking at are related to the fact it is set in Manchester at the end of the 90s. And I’m not sure whether to update or even modernise, or if it works as it should in that time period. If I keep it, there’s a balance to be had. There’s a reference to oral sex as being a ‘Monica’ which would have been instantly recognisable at the time, but while Monica Lewinsky is still a reference today, I don’t think that would work without context, so I’d need to rephrase various parts.
The other fascinating elements is how much smoking there is. Its an important part of the characters’ interactions and related to characters, and quite appropriate for the time period, but really does still out when I read it back. For older readers who remember the time when smoking was fairly ubiquitous (excuse the semi non sequitur) it would hopefully resonate, but would it resonate or put off younger readers? And would it even sound believable to them? Its one to ponder over.
The next post will be back to my mojo but thought you might be interested in this. Contact me on one of the social medias (https://bsky.app/profile/kitderrick.bsky.social or https://x.com/KitDerrick1) if you have thoughts!
Stay safe,
Kit xx