Update on my book (untitled, as yet)

It’s always odd reading through my own stuff. A lot of things leap out as being a bit awkward or slightly contradictory (I am incredibly rubbish at continuity). It’s pretty satisfying when witty or sombre moments hit the right note, and there are plenty of those.

Right now it’s about two-thirds full size, part of which will be made up by a few new scenes. Most of those are necessary rather than for subplots or padding, and should provide good opportunities for character building and some comedy (Roger the Goat has a minor part, but is quite enjoyable to write about).

My Kindle’s been very helpful in this regard. Redrafting is much more tedious than writing first drafts, but the eReader has allowed me to escape using tons of ink and paper then making notes with highlighters. It’s also much smaller and lighter than a lever-arch file.

Redrafting is always less fun than writing a first draft, but I do have 3-6 new scenes to add, so that should make it a bit more enjoyable. I won’t be doing a map (95% of the story happens in a single city) but the cover’s a bit trickier. Drawing stuff is not a talent of mine, but I do have an idea for the cover and I’ll have to wait and see whether it works.

I’ve got a title in mind, and might go for a Latin version (helpfully, the Latin singular genitive and plural nominative of the first declension is the same, keeping a sense of ambiguity that would fit with the possible title but running the risk of sounding pretentious).

So, hopefully I’ll be able to crack on and get this draft done in the next month or two, and I think it’ll just need a final check after that.

Thaddeus