So I’m delighted to report that I finished the first draft of the new novel today. It’s very rough in places, needs a lot of work but at 60,000 words it’s a good length for a first draft. I know there will be significant parts to add, and cut, but it’s such a great sense of achievement. Go me. I’ve loved how the story turned out, which wasn’t at all as I originally intended, but I’d found so many happy accident links, parallels and areas of shadowing, and characters who were barely more than a footnote in the initial notes (Tiffany’s father, Aisha, Darren) now play significant roles, and some (like Chloe, Dr Ward and Niru) only came into existence mid-writing but are vital to the plot and storytelling.
The next stage is the difficult one of course. I have a willing alpha reader looking at first draft, and its time for the spell and grammar checking and timeline checking (laborious but necessary) before a second draft ahead of looking for Beta readers. I’ve also set myself some significant challenges, as part of the action is in the form of text messages, meaning formatting will no doubt be a bitch, and if I can find a way to do it, I want to include some emojis too. Not sure on the copyright status of that, must look into it. I can’t get to work on cover ideas yet, as I haven’t settled on the final title, but I can certainly get cracking on writing a pitch and summary as I have a break from the creative parts of the writing. I shall now pat myself on the head and have a beer.
Stay safe,
Kit