Secret Order

Off we go again.

To take my mind off the stomach-churning submissions round of novel no.6, I'm throwing myself into my next venture. I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but I feel relief rather than triumph at getting CoL out of the way. It's a story I've wanted to write for so many years that I've almost forgotten why. Now it's done. 120,000 words worth of done. I don't know whether it will find its place in the world, or in the bottom drawer along with Clapping on Planes. My second big miss, perhaps. 

Time will tell.

I haven't lost hope, only objectivity. No writer is capable of judging their own work by the point of submission.

Getting it finished has released me, though. The past 220,000 words I've written have been stories based on other people's stories. Rosy Hours was a Phantom of the Opera-inspired intrigue, whilst The Children of Lir was based on... well, The Children of Lir. 

For the first time in years I'm starting out with a completely blank page, like my first ever novel, Lucid. It's terrifying and terribly exciting. I've been reluctant to start because I can't get the finer points of the plot worked out - most of the plot, in fact. But yesterday morning I just went for it. Managed to knock out 1,130 before 9AM. And I am not a morning person.

Hoping I can keep up the momentum. 

What's excited me about this is that I'm aiming to write my first ever trilogy. I don't know if I'm a series writer, but based on my general outlook on life (I find routine extremely difficult) I don't think I am. I doubt I could invent one realm in one genre and keep writing about it. But I do think I could write three books. I like the idea of this. I think I'm through with the long-haul novel for a while. The thought of three shorter works is appealing. More words total, but more satisfying in the short term. 

I don't know, we'll see. I'm just enjoying a fresh adventure. Looking forward to meeting the characters and discovering the plot. I've loosely cobbled together two short stories I wrote a long time back, just to get me started. If you have ever read any of those, you might catch ghostly whispers of pages past. 

Without giving too much away, it's a story of how stories shape our decisions in life, often without us knowing, and the Secret Order of the Literati who influence our readings, and therefore our actions.

If you are sitting comfortably, let us begin...

The leading cause of missing girlfriends – their boyfriends. 

He knew that’s what they were thinking. From the detective’s tacit line of enquiry, to the stony wall of silence that had descended between Craig and his once-welcoming in-laws. Three months now, and they all suspected he’d played a part in Sophie’s disappearance. 

Only Courgette believed him, and she was a cat.