Early
this year I began writing a rugby themed novella called The
Players
only to abandon it two thirds of the way through when I didn't know
how to bring it to a satisfying conclusion. I started writing without
planning the story in advance and as always happens when I try to
wing it, I got lost. Most of my abandoned work is stuff I've started
without an outline. The
Players
was something a little different. More of a M/M story focusing on
relationships rather than full on sex (though there is still plenty
of hot sex in there). It was something outside my comfort zone
and around the 12k word point I got stuck with it and moved on
to work on a batch of short stories. I'd pretty much written off The
Players
as a failed experiment and didn't give the story or the characters
another thought. Or so it seemed.
Last week, out of the blue I woke up and suddenly knew how the final third of the story should play out. It's funny how that happens -- I hadn't been consciously thinking about that story at all -- and quite wonderful when it does. So I reread the partially completed draft and picked right back up where I'd left off. All being good I'll have a complete first draft in another week. It's still very much a M/M drama/romance rather than my regular gay erotica. So much so that I'm wondering whether to use a new pen name for the finished novella. I've been kicking around another idea that if successful will develop into a M/M thriller. The M/M stuff, while still pretty hot, is different enough from my regular work that it doesn't sit comfortably to put it out as a Thom Wolf book. I'm still not sure. I have a pen name in mind but I'm not ready to commit to it just yet. What's that you say? ... Write the frigging stories first. Too right! So I need to get the words down on paper and make a decision about how I'm going to market them in (gulp) 2015.
Last week, out of the blue I woke up and suddenly knew how the final third of the story should play out. It's funny how that happens -- I hadn't been consciously thinking about that story at all -- and quite wonderful when it does. So I reread the partially completed draft and picked right back up where I'd left off. All being good I'll have a complete first draft in another week. It's still very much a M/M drama/romance rather than my regular gay erotica. So much so that I'm wondering whether to use a new pen name for the finished novella. I've been kicking around another idea that if successful will develop into a M/M thriller. The M/M stuff, while still pretty hot, is different enough from my regular work that it doesn't sit comfortably to put it out as a Thom Wolf book. I'm still not sure. I have a pen name in mind but I'm not ready to commit to it just yet. What's that you say? ... Write the frigging stories first. Too right! So I need to get the words down on paper and make a decision about how I'm going to market them in (gulp) 2015.
I
intend being a lot more focused next year and managing my time much
better. It's not always easy. I have another job and also run a small
property business. But writing is my passion. I think about stories
when I go to bed at night and I'm still thinking about them when I
wake up in the morning. I just need a more productive method of
getting those stories written. I'm still pretty old school and do all
my first drafts in long hand. So maybe that should be my new years
resolution – to get with the modern world and write straight onto
my lap top. My goal for 2015 is to write one long novel and two
novellas.
In
the mean time The
Chain
is out there now. I love the new paperback edition. Ebooks are
definitely a wonderful thing, but it's something special for a writer
to be able to hold an old fashioned book in their hands. Or maybe
that's just me. Old fashioned.
