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.
Oh, that reminds me! Didn’t you email me some of TRoTHG? I seem to have lost it. Dinosaur noises ensue. Have you a single MS in pdf you can wing over to me?
I think your next project should be a murder mystery. Because, well, I think there should be more good ones. Like a proper pulp novel. Chandler, sort of thing.
Ah, the whole MS as a single pdf? Afraid not… it could be arranged, if you really, really really don’t want it any other way — but it might take me a year or two to get round to it 🙂
I wrote a crime thriller a few years back (The Broken Bones of When). Got me an agent with it and they proceeded to edit it to death. Four rewrites later and a rusal to submit, I sacked ’em.
I would like to do a literary murder mystery, I must admit. It might be fun to take the genre and… well, play with it. I shall think about it, mate.
Like Jasper Fforde, sort of thing? Go for it.
Actually, no — I was thinking more of a literary novel with a murder mystery at its heart, if you see what I mean. Something multi-layered, like Hungry Ghosts, and with a strong thematic content.
Like Arthur and George? I enjoyed that book very much, I must say.
Well, not quite but almost. Think The Turn of the Screw as a murder mystery.
Glad you’re happy with the work mate. I would love to read this and I wish you the best of luck with it.
Cheers, John — I’d be happy to send samples of Children over. Always value your thoughts, mate.