Canongate 2
In part 55 I blogged about the feeling a new novel was on its way and hoping I would be able to do NaNoWriMo in September. I can report I’m all ready to go. I had an idea for a second book featuring my Edinburgh old town detective Will Logan, so I put together a chapter outline and there is nothing else to do now than write out the opening draft.
As book one, The Canongate Containment, has yet to be published, this will not mean anything to anyone other than my editor and a few beta readers. However, I’m using this blog to document my progress and this is definitely progress. From my notes, this appears to be my 14th novel and the excitement of starting a new book has not diminished. The chapter outline simply poured out. I’m aware I had been thinking it over for a few weeks which I’ve always maintained is part of the writing process. When it came to actually put words to paper, the time felt right and I doubt I could have stopped myself even if I had wanted to. I’m going to have a draft of a new novel this year and that has taken the worry out of coming up with something. As I’ve said before, I don’t recognise writer’s block as something I worry about, but there is always that niggle about not having a new project and having to put the effort in to start something new. I was confident I would write a new book, but I was putting myself under pressure to be ready for September.
Canongate book one has been edited and is ready to go, other than I still need a name for the pub and a book cover. Having worked on this book to make it ready for publication, it’s good that it has inspired me to write more about these characters and the dystopian Edinburgh they inhabit. You would think coming up with a name for the local pub would be easy, but they all have memories and I need to think carefully before committing one to print. The book cover is proving problematic. I have one that I like, but whether it is appropriate for the genre, I don’t know. It’s surprising how many hours you can spend trying to source a cover and get the colour and fonts just right.
The title of book one, The Canongate Containment is also up for review. I’m still not convinced it’s right. Dead Man’s Data is a possibility, which I can appreciate is completely different. I can drive myself mad over a couple of words and yet easily produce thousands in rapid succession when the mood takes me.
I haven’t decided whether to query book one or publish now. The market is a funny place, and never more so than right now. If you wonder what I mean by that, just take a look at the titles that are coming out and the book covers imitating each other.
I don’t have a working title for book two, which I’ve just realised as I type this blog. I am now thinking about this. Book one is dark, but book two is really dark. It’s also very exciting, and I need to write it, regardless of how the market is, or how I perceive it to be.
The Fiction Factory 