In which there is a brief and not particularly happy update on the state of my writing projects.
Without a City Wall a.k.a. City Wall
I started writing this in Belgium in the autumn of 2007. At this time I had not yet learned what the craft of a novelist truly entailed and progress was slow. For a first book it was very ambitious as it had a split narrative structure with two separate but distantly related narrative arcs in alternating chapters. It's a Science Fiction novel that explores themes of interstellar colonisation, environmental degradation and the ceaseless urge of humans to create conflict.
By the southern hemisphere winter of 2010 the book was half finished and I was living in Australia. I still, it seemed, failed to grasp the centrality of hard work to the business of being a novelist. Over the years that followed my run rate did not improve and I finally finished it at the start of 2015.
In September 2015 I had managed, through the gift of flippancy, to acquire an agent who told me some hard and invaluable truths about the book which led to a rewrite. This much improved book was submitted to various US and UK publishers in February 2016. None of them liked it enough to loosen their famously taut purse strings and do a deal.
Redeeming Blood
I decided to build on the complexity of City Wall by doing something even more complicated. I spent most of 2015 writing another split narrative novel that would serve as simultaneous sequel and prequel to City Wall. Look at me! Look how very smart I am! Of course, the inescapable axiom that eluded me was that the sequel to a novel with no commercial viability also has no commercial viability itself. The positive aspect to the Redeeming Blood experience was that I wrote it in approximately eleven months from January to November 2015. If nothing else, I had finally realised that these things happen more quickly if one works harder.
City Wall, it has been observed, is a book about women and its companion piece, Redeeming Blood, exhibits pleasing symmetry in that it is a book about men. It also takes a giddying whirl through the topics of trans-humanism, representative politics, terrorism and first contact. I like it and its characters a great deal but, sadly, its a commercial dead end.
Weft
Weft is a novel that sprang from two ideas: the titular word and my conceit that the definitive SF espionage novel had never been written and that I was the person to write it. Happily, I managed to sustain the fecundity I had exhibited in the production of Redeeming Blood and completed it withing the calendar year of 2016.
It is a much stronger and accessible than either of my first two efforts as I had learned a great deal from them. My eventual intention for Weft is to pursue a trade publishing deal as it has strong commercial appeal. Though this isn't going to happen any time soon.
A Dying King
This novel, which I wrote in manic burst of energy from January to July 2017, is my self-indulgent 50th birthday present to myself. I strongly dislike the formulaic strictures of the fantasy literature and wanted to write something that would challenge the conventions of the genre. It is the first work in a planned trilogy although I have no immediate plans to start on the second volume. I will not be seeking representation or a trade publishing deal for this book.
There you have it: 10 years, 4 books and 500,000 words summarised in one blog post.
Without a City Wall a.k.a. City Wall
I started writing this in Belgium in the autumn of 2007. At this time I had not yet learned what the craft of a novelist truly entailed and progress was slow. For a first book it was very ambitious as it had a split narrative structure with two separate but distantly related narrative arcs in alternating chapters. It's a Science Fiction novel that explores themes of interstellar colonisation, environmental degradation and the ceaseless urge of humans to create conflict.
By the southern hemisphere winter of 2010 the book was half finished and I was living in Australia. I still, it seemed, failed to grasp the centrality of hard work to the business of being a novelist. Over the years that followed my run rate did not improve and I finally finished it at the start of 2015.
In September 2015 I had managed, through the gift of flippancy, to acquire an agent who told me some hard and invaluable truths about the book which led to a rewrite. This much improved book was submitted to various US and UK publishers in February 2016. None of them liked it enough to loosen their famously taut purse strings and do a deal.
Redeeming Blood
I decided to build on the complexity of City Wall by doing something even more complicated. I spent most of 2015 writing another split narrative novel that would serve as simultaneous sequel and prequel to City Wall. Look at me! Look how very smart I am! Of course, the inescapable axiom that eluded me was that the sequel to a novel with no commercial viability also has no commercial viability itself. The positive aspect to the Redeeming Blood experience was that I wrote it in approximately eleven months from January to November 2015. If nothing else, I had finally realised that these things happen more quickly if one works harder.
City Wall, it has been observed, is a book about women and its companion piece, Redeeming Blood, exhibits pleasing symmetry in that it is a book about men. It also takes a giddying whirl through the topics of trans-humanism, representative politics, terrorism and first contact. I like it and its characters a great deal but, sadly, its a commercial dead end.
Six SidesAfter City Wall failed to attract to a publishing deal I had the idea that it could be combined and resequenced with Redeeming Blood to form one novel that eliminated the split narrative structure and presented as one longer but more coherent work called Six Sides. I resisted the temptation for the pretentious neologism 6sides. I am in the process of doing this and the result is pleasing to me if nobody else. I have no idea what the plan for this is.
Weft
Weft is a novel that sprang from two ideas: the titular word and my conceit that the definitive SF espionage novel had never been written and that I was the person to write it. Happily, I managed to sustain the fecundity I had exhibited in the production of Redeeming Blood and completed it withing the calendar year of 2016.
It is a much stronger and accessible than either of my first two efforts as I had learned a great deal from them. My eventual intention for Weft is to pursue a trade publishing deal as it has strong commercial appeal. Though this isn't going to happen any time soon.
A Dying King
This novel, which I wrote in manic burst of energy from January to July 2017, is my self-indulgent 50th birthday present to myself. I strongly dislike the formulaic strictures of the fantasy literature and wanted to write something that would challenge the conventions of the genre. It is the first work in a planned trilogy although I have no immediate plans to start on the second volume. I will not be seeking representation or a trade publishing deal for this book.
There you have it: 10 years, 4 books and 500,000 words summarised in one blog post.
