I’ve not blogged in a while but thought since I’ve just hit a milestone that now would be the perfect time. I’ve done it. My second first draft is complete. The novel is called Chrysalis and 83,000 words which I’m proud of and feel are much better than my first offering. My first first draft has now been sent back by a beta reader and I’m going to tackle re-drafting after taking a well-earned rest. Between the two works, I’ve been writing pretty much every day since April. I’m writing this whilst having a few beers and having just enjoyed Celeb Bake Off and the glorious return of The Circle – but a celebrity version. I feel like they ought to have made a million series of that over the last year as it inherently involves social distancing.
Somebody in The Celebrity
Circle is catfishing as Big Narstie, but I kind of wish he was in it as he’s a
proper fruit loop and hilarious. I don’t know if anyone’s ever watched his show
(it used to come on after The Last Leg). It was utter chaos, having Mo Gilligan
co-hosting just about made it a format and not just Narstie just mucking about
for an hour. It’s weird because his early grime stuff was quite gritty and
serious at times. He obviously found a gap in the market for a lovable nutter.
Fair play to him. Speaking of grime, I dug out SLK – The Lost Tapes and Nu Brand
Flexxx – Rangoose Vol. 1 the other day.
Some bangers on there for sure. Listened to Dizzee’s first album as well for
the first time in ages too.
Anyhow, back to my writing
exploits. I said I would take a break after my first first draft, but then saw
some advice that said to just throw yourself into the next one and be never be
static. I am going to take a break now though, despite having the first one back
to re-draft and a rough idea for the third – about a woman who was viciously
bullied at school but since having left school has become more confident and
manages to enjoy life until she realises that her downstairs neighbour in new
flat she bought is the bully-in-chief who picks up where she left off. She
becomes agoraphobic and lives out the life she’d love to live in a model world
she has built in her flat as well as inflicting the same ordeals the bullies
enacted upon her in toy replications.
She eventually has a sole
meaningful human interaction with the postman, but he turns out to be an
undercover policeman whose sole interest is in busting the drug-dealing
operation that her downstairs neighbour is running from her flat. Then it
brings out the whole ethical consideration of undercover police sleeping with
the people they deceive and consent. Given how mentally fragile the protagonist
is, I haven’t quite decided how she’ll handle it all when she finds out and I
still need to fully flesh out the plot, but that’s the jist of it. I’m trying
to be more planner, less pantser with each new novel but given that I only came
up with the big twist in Chrysalis after having written 18 chapters then I don’t
think that will change somehow.
I put Chrysalis out to tender
for some beta reading last night with the following blurb:
“A second pandemic, Hemo,
ravages the world after it had just recovered from Covid-19. Its victims
require regular blood transfusions in order to stay alive. An opportunist gang
steals all of Britain’s blood supplies, leaving the Prime Minister with no
choice but to temporarily make blood currency until stocks are replenished.
The gang sells the blood
illegally and control their dealers with a mysterious neck implant. Two rival
political journalists, Sara and Ginley, end up having to join forces in order
to discover who is behind this shadowy crime syndicate and uncover the sinister
ulterior purpose for the implants and a whole lot of other secrets along the
way.”
I already have a taker, so long
as I beta read his in return which I’ve never done before, and given I have no
actual English qualifications could be interesting, but having written two works
now, albeit they might both be terrible, must count for something. I’m willing
to give it a go though as it means mines will be read for free. Getting Rosie’s
Room read cost me £32. I know – I said I was taking a break, but at least it’s
not writing, just reading which I do lots of already, just without the added constructive
criticism.
It will be interesting as well
as even though his novel is a thriller, my bag, it’s set in the seventies and it’s
about a murder. This goes against my two fundamental rules when finding a new
thriller to read; nothing that isn’t set in modern day or the near-future and I
have a general disdain for clichéd books that follow the ‘there’s been a
murder, let’s see who done it’ format. But it will expand my horizons and it
might be enriching to read analytically rather than solely for enjoyment.
I’m still well on track to
achieve my 2021 goal of self-publishing something. The question is will it be
Chrysalis or Rosie’s Room?
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