Hmm, it’s been harder than I thought to sit down and start plotting the next book. Part of this is unfinished business with the paperback (as I have mentioned before), but I also notice that I have started to develop some trepidation about revisiting old ground. I think once you have created a world, there is a certain internal logic that needs to be followed, and unfortunately is all to easy to mess up.

If one is aware, it makes writing something new based on a previous narrative tricky (witness the piles of fan fic that have much loved heroes behaving completely out of character), and in the worst instance you get something like the Star Wars prequels which not only raise objections, but also work towards diminishing what was already out there before. I remember walking out of Episode 1 just picking plot hole after plot hole (e.g. Wasn’t Tatooine supposed to be some obscure backwater? Judging by Episode 1 it may as well be Picadilly circus).

Now obviously, I don’t have such a widely cherished trilogy to mess up, nor do I have rabid fanboys who are waiting to tear me limb from limb for contradicting some minor point that I have long since forgotten. However, I am aware that things like continuity and consistency are vital when you are trying to develop a world that builds on what has come before. It may sound odd, as surely I am going to be the person best placed to know exactly what goes on in the head of the characters I have created, but you have to remember that what people read in the version they have on their kindle is not the same character that I may have spent the most time with. Characters do evolve, and the editing and re-writing process adds and takes away details. For example, the diarist originally came from Dorset, and I was about to think about using that when I realised that detail had changed. Similarly, I am sure I have started to imagine and confabulate parts of the book, and have completely forgotten other parts. Someone recently was telling me about a scene (Justine in the snow), and I actually had to get them to clarify they were talking about something I had written or not.

This is particularly difficult for me, as I HATE inconsistency or out of character behaviour in my own favourite stories. I really hate it when characters suddenly become stupid, weaker or forget they had a particular ability they had previously demonstrated that would immediately solve the problem (I am talking about you Superman), because it serves the purpose of the plot. I fear there is no other way around it, I am going to have to read Irrelevant Experience again before I make a start on the next one…