A different experience
Writer’s block (noun)
DEFINITION: a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece
HELL HATH NO FURY wasn’t going to be my second book, but as the seed of an idea exploded one afternoon into the first three chapters and a handful of characters, I knew the idea had captured my imagination. What I didn’t know was just how different and difficult my journey - from idea to printed book - would be, compared to that of my first book.
Whereas the idea for my first book had developed over 20 years, the inspiration for this story was sudden and overwhelming. I was stood at the kitchen sink, cleaning a dishwasher-unfriendly pan, when I heard a young child nearby having a screaming tantrum because it couldn’t get what it wanted. The more the parents said no, the more it screamed. My peaceful afternoon, with the sun shining and the birds twittering in the garden, morphed into me wondering what lengths a person would go to, to get their own way? That’s when I grabbed some paper and a pen and started to scribble things down.
For the next three months, I’d offer my wife the chance of a lay-in at the weekend and I’d sit in front of my computer at 6:30am, and the words simply poured out. What a difference when, in late 2021, I took a three-week break from work to try to power-through the final twenty chapters, but actually went backwards. It was such a negative experience that I scrapped ten existing chapters and decided to re-draft ten more (on top of the twenty I was originally hoping to finish). The effect of it all was I walked away from anything to do with writing for almost eight weeks, because every time I sat down at the keyboard, I froze. I was worried that if I tried to write, I might add even more chapters to my list of re-writes. What if the whole story unravelled, rather than converging on a great ending?
That was my first experience of writer’s block, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Thankfully, I allowed myself the time and space to let the story come to me. I accepted that the draft would be well over a year later than I had hoped for, and whenever I re-read some of the draft, it really did still feel like there was a great story. In the summer of 2022, I decided to completely re-draft the remaining block of fifteen chapters. As soon as I allowed myself more time and stopped trying to tweak them to make them fit, everything seemed to fall into place.
And so, dear reader, from April 2023 hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy another twisty, complex, multi-character story. I’m always grateful for ratings, reviews and constructive critique on Amazon or Goodreads, as well as loving it when a reader sends me a selfie of them holding my book. I hope you might be willing to do the same (selfies to @GradusPrimus on Twitter or @primusgradus on Insta. If you know me personally, you’ll know various ways to get the image to me).
Until next time …
DEFINITION: a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece
HELL HATH NO FURY wasn’t going to be my second book, but as the seed of an idea exploded one afternoon into the first three chapters and a handful of characters, I knew the idea had captured my imagination. What I didn’t know was just how different and difficult my journey - from idea to printed book - would be, compared to that of my first book.
Whereas the idea for my first book had developed over 20 years, the inspiration for this story was sudden and overwhelming. I was stood at the kitchen sink, cleaning a dishwasher-unfriendly pan, when I heard a young child nearby having a screaming tantrum because it couldn’t get what it wanted. The more the parents said no, the more it screamed. My peaceful afternoon, with the sun shining and the birds twittering in the garden, morphed into me wondering what lengths a person would go to, to get their own way? That’s when I grabbed some paper and a pen and started to scribble things down.
For the next three months, I’d offer my wife the chance of a lay-in at the weekend and I’d sit in front of my computer at 6:30am, and the words simply poured out. What a difference when, in late 2021, I took a three-week break from work to try to power-through the final twenty chapters, but actually went backwards. It was such a negative experience that I scrapped ten existing chapters and decided to re-draft ten more (on top of the twenty I was originally hoping to finish). The effect of it all was I walked away from anything to do with writing for almost eight weeks, because every time I sat down at the keyboard, I froze. I was worried that if I tried to write, I might add even more chapters to my list of re-writes. What if the whole story unravelled, rather than converging on a great ending?
That was my first experience of writer’s block, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Thankfully, I allowed myself the time and space to let the story come to me. I accepted that the draft would be well over a year later than I had hoped for, and whenever I re-read some of the draft, it really did still feel like there was a great story. In the summer of 2022, I decided to completely re-draft the remaining block of fifteen chapters. As soon as I allowed myself more time and stopped trying to tweak them to make them fit, everything seemed to fall into place.
And so, dear reader, from April 2023 hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy another twisty, complex, multi-character story. I’m always grateful for ratings, reviews and constructive critique on Amazon or Goodreads, as well as loving it when a reader sends me a selfie of them holding my book. I hope you might be willing to do the same (selfies to @GradusPrimus on Twitter or @primusgradus on Insta. If you know me personally, you’ll know various ways to get the image to me).
Until next time …
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