On the cusp - ending and beginning

Letting go

I am at that delightful transition stage. I have finished the second of my Schellberg cycle books, Clara’s Story. I’ve got it as good as I can. It’s edited and polished. Now it’s resting a while and I’m gaining some distance from it. I’ll be sending it off to the publisher soon. There will be a reaction. I hope it will be that they’ll agree to publish it. Then there will be an editor’s reaction. No doubt there will be changes. If I get some distance now, though, any suggestions from the editor will be easier to digest.

 

Planning the new

I’ve moved on now to Girl in a Smart Uniform. This is the most fictional so far in the cycle with the main character being completely fabricated. I spent a delightful afternoon recently at the Art of Tea in Didsbury planning my story and enjoying a pot of tea and a slice of cake. For me it’s almost as if in order to create a story for the world I need to be in the world.

 

Pen on paper   

There is also something important about holding a pen in my hand and letting it touch the paper. There is something about the connection between the brain, the hand and the notebook that affirms the thoughts. I created an outline plot, and gave some thought to my characters and their setting. The setting is reasonably familiar: it will be there in all five books.

The first words

I’m 6000 words in now and the characters are beginning to form nicely. A couple of new ones have walked in, fully formed. The plot is sharpening and I’m beginning to see how I can bring in some pace. The work is finding a voice.

Much of this early writing however will eventually be discarded or changed completely. These first few thousand words are often just there to help the author get to know her story better.

It’s the beginning of an exciting new adventure. Bring it on!