I'm in between books. Finished one, preparing to start the next one, and struggling to figure out where the next one begins.
I also need some recovery time.
Many people equate finishing a book to birthing a child. They're not wrong. Like a new mother, an author needs recovery time. Time to refresh the soul. I certainly need that this year! Still, while I'm waiting for the final edits from my editor, I can't help but consider where the beginning is, even if I'm not ready to start writing.
Books need a hook in the first chapter. Action that grabs the reader's attention from the start. The first try usually turns into info dumping as I get acquainted with the characters and the setting, adding in all the details that I want to include. That's fairly normal. The first try is introducing the story to me, the author. From there, I can start culling out the unnecessary details, things that should be filtered in later. Things that don't matter other than for the author's information. THE SELKIE, the next in the Epitaph series, opens in Ireland, and while I was doing my research, my first cut included all kinds of details about the landscape, the topography, the Celtic Sea, and (or course) seals. Most of that was cut from the final version, but I left enough to "show" the reader, the pieces that move the story forward without dragging the reader down in minutiae.
Epitaph 6 will return to the cemetery, and I'm fairly certain that's where it will begin. As the final installment in the Epitaph series, the ghost in this last one will be figurative rather than literal (channeling Monty Python, "and now, for something completely different..."). No, it isn't completely different.
Authors are always thinking about the writing, so I'll likely start toying with an opening, even if I'm not ready to dive in quite yet. Funny thing about that, once I get the opening down, the rest generally starts to flow, but until I get my final edits back for THE SELKIE, I won't be able to devote all my energy to the new story, so my writing schedule for the next couple of weeks will be random, at best.
Unless these characters carry me away in the meantime....
Ah, the limbo between books. The urge to write doesn't go away when we turn a book in, but (unless you're a compulsive plotter), straddling two worlds is a challenge. I'm expecting my edits back by the end of the week, and I know the current wip, still in discovery phase, will be set aside. Maybe new and better ideas will surface after we are apart for a while.
ReplyDeleteAnd once you can devote you undivided attention to the new WIP, the ideas flow more freely.
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