My Writing Life
September 2021
I am about to start on the journey of writing a new book and I am both excited and nervous in equal amounts!
With the latest Maze Investigations novel – ‘The Soldier’ – about to be published, it’s time to move onto the next one. I wrote the last three books as a mini-series that concluded with ‘The Soldier’. Now, I must start afresh. It’s like jumping out of an airplane. You know it will be OK, the ride will be exhilarating and the landing – hopefully smooth and successful! But there will be many pockets of air and a few bumps on the way that must be carefully navigated.
I have had an idea, based on a local history event, for some time, one which also had national importance at the time (late 1830s), although these days mostly forgotten. This was the Chartist uprising in Newport in South Wales.
Parachute strapped on, here we go.
The first step – research. I have purchased several books and am now immersed in reading the social and political background to the event, in November 1839, when around five thousand miners and iron workers, led by John Frost, marched from the Welsh valleys into Newport to protest what they saw as the dreadful conditions in which they lived and worked, under the yoke of the Iron Masters. I am discovering that there are many interpretations of what they expected to achieve. The uprising failed, and its leaders were condemned to a horrific death (hanging, quartering and decapitation), which was commuted to transportation for life, to Australia. They were subsequently pardoned but only John Frost returned, eventually.
The next step – the story. How will Maze becomes involved in this history? What is the ultimate goal? For now, the ideas are entirely in my head, and I scribble them down when something new occurs (often, to be later discarded, but that doesn’t matter at this stage). I have the basic premise, but it will soon be time to put the meat on the bones, which doesn’t always go where you expect it to go, but more about that later in the journey.
Then comes – the characters. The usual Maze investigators and their families will be there, of course. But there will be a client, with a hidden agenda.
That’s all I have for now. But I will be writing about progress and how it’s going (or not!) each month.
At the same time, I am trying out a new category (glutton for punishment!). I won’t say any more about that for now – spoilers!
Tune in mid-October for the next update.
I am about to start on the journey of writing a new book and I am both excited and nervous in equal amounts!
With the latest Maze Investigations novel – ‘The Soldier’ – about to be published, it’s time to move onto the next one. I wrote the last three books as a mini-series that concluded with ‘The Soldier’. Now, I must start afresh. It’s like jumping out of an airplane. You know it will be OK, the ride will be exhilarating and the landing – hopefully smooth and successful! But there will be many pockets of air and a few bumps on the way that must be carefully navigated.
I have had an idea, based on a local history event, for some time, one which also had national importance at the time (late 1830s), although these days mostly forgotten. This was the Chartist uprising in Newport in South Wales.
Parachute strapped on, here we go.
The first step – research. I have purchased several books and am now immersed in reading the social and political background to the event, in November 1839, when around five thousand miners and iron workers, led by John Frost, marched from the Welsh valleys into Newport to protest what they saw as the dreadful conditions in which they lived and worked, under the yoke of the Iron Masters. I am discovering that there are many interpretations of what they expected to achieve. The uprising failed, and its leaders were condemned to a horrific death (hanging, quartering and decapitation), which was commuted to transportation for life, to Australia. They were subsequently pardoned but only John Frost returned, eventually.
The next step – the story. How will Maze becomes involved in this history? What is the ultimate goal? For now, the ideas are entirely in my head, and I scribble them down when something new occurs (often, to be later discarded, but that doesn’t matter at this stage). I have the basic premise, but it will soon be time to put the meat on the bones, which doesn’t always go where you expect it to go, but more about that later in the journey.
Then comes – the characters. The usual Maze investigators and their families will be there, of course. But there will be a client, with a hidden agenda.
That’s all I have for now. But I will be writing about progress and how it’s going (or not!) each month.
At the same time, I am trying out a new category (glutton for punishment!). I won’t say any more about that for now – spoilers!
Tune in mid-October for the next update.
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