The Small Victories

So...this weekend I finished writing my current project, FoB!

But wait! (suddenly a wild plot complication appears) I still have to give it yet one more read-through edit and I want to add little excerpts showing the larger world setting before each of the chapters.

So yeah, admittedly  it’s not quite done and dusted, but I learned when I wrote my first book that you have to celebrate these small victories whenever they crop up.

When I first started writing FOB - the stakes kept rising, nations and even gods began to stick their oar in. The story seemed far too big to tell as the plot began to sprawl and I didn't know where to start the story never mind where to finish it. I realised that the tale of these two characters and this world was too big for one book.

That revelation was pretty scary. Taking on a series wasn't what I'd planned. AT ALL. But there it was and once I'd adjusted and  figured out what were the most important parts of the story that I wanted to tell (plus a timely comment from agent John - cheers, man), it all started to come together. And crucially, for the first time since I started the project and the various drafts and outlines, I began to really love the plot and the way it built to a titanic climax.

Now, with the experience of writing for an older age group, a longer story and using different tense to my last project and the dual POVs, I feel that I’ve learned a lot from the experience of writing this story.

I'll blab on some more about FOB in future posts (be warned!), but right now the red pen of doom awaits...

So, as I crack on with the read-through line edits, join me in raising your glass of chocolate milk to toast all the small victories.

*Apologies to Faith No More for stealing the title to this post.