It suddenly occurred to me this afternoon, whilst writing a long overdue email to my friend Jane, that by the middle of the summer I will be thinking about my next writing project. Children of the Resolution will be, by the back end of June, at the latest, in second draft phase and I’ll probably already be researching/outlining what will by then be “the new one.”
Children of the Resolution, and the time it’s taking to write it, is just flying by, and whilst I’ll be a little sad to leave behind that time and those memories, I’m also going to be extremely excited about where it might take me. It is, unquestionably, the most marketable novel I’ve ever written, and given the right backing I’m frighteningly confident that it could do really well.
With that in mind, I have to ask myself, What next? I’m tempted to plump for another semi-autobiographical piece — one that goes into the aspects of “Carl’s” life that Children of the Resolution leaves untouched. But that isn’t what I want to do, for many reasons, but principally because that “job” is done, and another semi-autobiographical piece wouldn’t have the central theme that Children has. Maybe I’ll see it differently ten years down the line, but for now, no. That’s enough.
There’s also a chance that The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts will be sold by this time — and I think something more in that vein is how I’d like to continue. Ordinary people, struggling with extraordinary circumstances.
Isolation has interested me for a while, and I think I’d like to look at that. A small cast of characters cut off from the rest of humanity, or possibly a single character. We have a lot of disused ironstone mines in the hills near where I live, and I’ve wanted to use them for a while, now. Maybe this will be my opportunity. I don’t know.
Either way, I’m looking forward to the whole process of discovery (which I guess has already started!)
It’s a significant part of why I enjoy writing so much.
