John M. Dow's Blog, page 2

Let the redraft commence

Well, redraft time is almost upon us. I've had a couple of mails asking what's involved in the redrafting process, so I thought I'd put a few notes down here.

Basically, the first draft of a novel, for me, is all about story. It's about forming characters and situations and then seeing how they play out. It's about sitting down at the word processor, day after day, and just typing.

Once that's done, the resulting manuscript is basically an unpublishable horror! So it gets put to the side for a month or so while I start working on something else. With my front-brain engaged in the new project, my back brain ponders away, thinking about things like 'theme' and 'symbolism'.

So now that a month has passed, it's time to have a look at what's been written. For me, this is an exciting time. I never look back on the previous day's work, so this first read through of the manuscript is literally that – the first time I've read the whole thing from end to end. While I'm doing this, I tend to jot down some notes and see if the themes and symbols I've been pondering are actually there – sometimes I even find new ones. The novel, at this stage, is just a word document, so I do the first read through on my Kindle.

Next comes the hard bit. Equipped with my little notebook of things I didn't like, things I did like and suggested themes, it's time to attack the manuscript with a red pen. I go through it, one page at a time, correcting typographical errors, marking things for improvement, scoring out superfluous text and highlighting areas where my themes and symbolism can be teased out a little.

With that all done, it's time to go back to the word processor. The first draft has been copied to my 'First Drafts' folder, and the document renamed to second draft. With this done, I set upon it with a vengeance – deleting, rewriting, correcting.

At the end of this process, I should have something approaching a publishable book – so it's time to grit my teeth and send my baby out into the wide-world for my friendly editors to have a go at it. This part is especially nerve wracking as there are no guarantees that what I've written is any good.

So there we are – this whole process will be kicking off tonight. I expect to be very busy over the next few days.

July will be busy!

July is going to be a very busy month in Dow Towers. For one thing, I'll be spending the first half working intensively on Careless Talk, getting it ready for my trusty team of proof readers.

Once it has been sent off – and temporarily out of my hands – I'll be dividing my time between continuing The Sounding and working on providing content for a new website.

The website is something new for me – it's an informational site dedicated to providing background lore for the universe that Careless Talk is set in. Because – and I'm being frank here – the scope in Careless Talk is vast! The story itself, while self contained, spans some three thousand years and mentions (however briefly) events that happen waaaaaay back in the mists of time. My plan is to give the reader some (hopefully) insightful information about the world and the way it works. More will be revealed nearer the time.

Neverending Work!

What we have there, Dear Reader, is the manuscript for Careless Talk. It's nice seeing it like that – when it exists purely as a file on my computer, it doesn't quite feel real. You can't argue with a couple of kilograms of dead tree, though.

I'm planning to apply a liberal coating of William Strunk on the poor thing during the first week in July and then sitting down to redraft it. Hopefully, it'll be in your hands at some point during August, depending on how many howlers I find.

In the meantime, work on The Sounding continues apace. I'm well into the flow of things now – I have some interesting new people to play with. And while this is all ongoing, I have some nice ideas for a follow-up to Careless Talk. The trouble is, my brain always seems to be two or three books ahead of me.

Theme and Symbolism

This is an interesting time for Careless Talk. With it sitting on a shelf and my creative mind fixed elsewhere, my unconscious mind has been picking over the structure of it.

Because I haven't looked at it or really thought about it for a while, a lot of the detail has slipped away. Imagine, if you will, looking at a zoomed in map view and then pulling back – you begin to see the overall layout of the land and the shape of the country. It's like that.

From way up here, my unconscious mind has begun to notice two things – one is a very clear theme that runs through the novel. The other is a very strong piece of symbolism.

My job, in the second draft, will be to tease and tweak these things to highlight them a little so they become more noticeable when up close and personal.

Taking the far view of a novel is always a wonderful experience and is the main reason why I believe there should be at least a month's space between a first and second draft. It gives you perspective.

Something old, something new

With Careless Talk now sitting waiting for editing, it's time to turn my beady eyes towards something new. I've spent so much time, in the last year or two, in the company of my 'Angels', James and Emily, that it's proving to be a shock to the system to have finally finished the book.

Careless Talk lends itself to a series. The 'world' they inhabit is (I believe) very well formed and has plenty of scope for other stories. It's almost certain that I'll be revisiting that reality at some point in the near future (well – I still have to edit the book!) but for now it's on to pastures new.

One of the huge advantages of electronic publication is that I can write what I want to write and what readers want to read, and am not shoe-horned into one specific genre by a publisher. From Within was a straight up action horror, Careless Talk is much more of a love story. My next novel – The Sounding – won't have much in the way of love in it. It will certainly have horror – by the bucketload. It's also going to have rather a nasty streak of humour running through it. What's not to like?

A milestone

The first draft of Careless Talk is now complete, and it's been laid aside to mature for a week or two before editing begins. In the meantime, I'm doing a little work on a new title – something bloody, nasty, and violent.

James Herbert on Kindle

Ok, so I'm quite happy to go all fanboy about this. James Herbert has been one of my favourite authors for more years than I care to remember (or reveal, dear heart).

I first read The Rats when I was a mere strip of a lad and it's safe to say it was utterly unlike anything else I'd read. Not as safe as Stephen King and not quite as deranged as Shaun Hutson, James Herbert, for many years, dragged me screaming headlong into some pretty dark places.

And the purpose of this post? Well, at long last, Mr Herbert's back catalogue has appeared on the Kindle store. Due to various personal events, all of my tattered old paperbacks have been lost in the mists of time, but I now have a reason to buy and enjoy them all over again.

Obviously, the horror genre isn't to everyone's taste, but if you're on this page then I think it's fair to assume it's to yours. If you haven't read Mr Herbert's work before, then for God's sake, go and do it now!

From Within – Free this weekend

Courtesy of my publisher, Smashwords, From Within is available with a 100% discount this weekend. It's available in just about every e-reader format imaginable, including plain ol' text.

Smashwords store page is here.

Just enter the code CC22X and it won't cost you a penny.

Hoi! Shorty!

The whole world contained within a few short pages! [0]

GASP in HORROR at the Elephant Faced Man!

SHRIEK in TERROR as Cujo the Wasp rises to wreak a horrible vengeance!

SHUDDER in DISGUST at the resident of the first floor's poor toilet habits!

This is a short book, full of short things. Funny things, sad things, and outright surreal things.

Your life will never be the same again.[1]

Now available on Amazon for a breathtaking 69p! Click Cujo up there to have a look.

[0] This may be a complete lie.

[1] This is almost certainly a complete lie.

James

"And here I am, older than the world, transfixed by a dream and brought to this low state by a being whose very existence is but a speck of dust on the glassy surface of eternity."