So, it’s less than twelve hours until my
blog on ABBA is due and I’ve given it no thought because:
It’s sunny.
It’s the holidays.
I only have until 31st October
to finish my book.
It’s my niece’s birthday and I had to buy
her a present.
My mum needs a cataract operation and I
spent ages on the phone sorting it out.
There were blackberries begging to be
picked.
It took 45 minutes to cycle to where the
blackberries were waiting to be picked.
My son is in Bangkok, trying to get to
Sydney but the flight has been delayed 26 hours and counting.
It’s still sunny.
My daughter has just come home from a day’s
shopping in Bath with her friend.
She bought a camera.
I have annoyed her by saying she should
have bought it from a ‘proper’ shop in case it goes wrong.
I’m hungry.
I have no insights worth sharing.
But, I have a commitment so please find
below a brain dump of all the things that I’m finding difficult, writing wise:
In a sequel, how much of the earlier story
do you need to put in? It’s hard to judge. Too much will bore the reader who
already knows the background, too little and it won’t make sense to the
disobedient reader approaching them in the wrong order.
How do I refer to my character given that
she has several pseudonyms? I keep putting in aka and annoying myself.
I have chosen a structure that alternates
between current day and several years ago. Do I need to give the chapters
headings to help the reader or shall I assume they are capable of keeping up
with me?
I set the first book in Bristol, where I
live. The second is set in Leeds. It seemed a good idea as I went to university
there, but when I looked at a street map I realised my memory is unreliable.
Does it matter?
In between fretting about the plot, I am
conscious that I should be thinking about publicity for the first book, out in
November. Even the word makes me feel like watching Breaking Bad and eating
dark chocolate with dried cranberries. Does the fact that it’s the holidays
mean I can shelve those thoughts until September? (Do any writers relish the
idea of ‘selling’ their books?)
My character has a trip to Yemen. I have
read relevant blogs and spent far too much time on trip advisor. As the work is
fiction, how authentic must it be? Do I need to find someone who has been there
to check what I’ve written?
(I am enjoying asking all these questions.
It’s like having an imaginary friend.)
I have endlessly googled bomb-making, and
similar, will there be a knock on my door one day? Do other authors erase their
search history?
Would you mind if I stopped now, and went
to fry the turkey strips? (I know, what possessed me to buy them?)
