P-Script

National Geographic

 

I've started a new novel!

Working title P-Script (the actual title I have in mind is way cooler). It's something that's been rattling around in my brain for a while, and I'm hoping to keep it down to around 80-90k.

Like Creeper's Cottage, it's all about those abandoned places, but this time it's 250 years in the future. My first attempt at sci-fi and I'm excited. The first chapter is down. I'm someone who researches a lot, and I've always suspected that futuristic novels take just as much research as historical ones, because you need to be aware of so many trends and scientific developments.

This one's inspired by Hans Rosling's statistics and the current trend in Japan and Italy. The implications of this on the economy, health care, and housing fascinates me. I had a guest staying from Abuja recently and we got talking about the far future, and it really sparked my imagination and made me think I should get on with writing this. Historical fiction is all about explaining other people's thought processes and why they did things, but here, I get to invent reasoning that hasn't yet happened. It's kind of liberating.

And, don't worry, I'm not abandoning Sargon. Things are actually going okay there. I think I've fixed the first chapter, and I'm busy resetting the tone. It's not looking quite as bad as I first feared, and I even had someone contact me asking if they could be a beta reader. I'm chipping away at it in between P-Script and a couple of other projects.

I've been really enjoying a couple of Netflix series as well, one on music, This is Pop, and the other on films, The Movies that Made Us. Kind of a trip down Nostalgia Avenue, and absolutely fascinating how many blockbusters were rejected by every agent in town.

So, soldiering onwards.