Yes, this morning I finished writing the first draft of my new Porfiry Petrovich novel, A RAZOR WRAPPED IN SILK.
Current word count stands at 124,942. I imagine I will cut that down significantly (10%?) in the editing.
I'm eager to crack on with that, as cutting words can be tremendously satisfying. But I do need to get some distance from it before I begin the read through.
And it's a lovely sunny day. I feel good.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Congrats, Roger!
thanks Aliya!
Congratulations!
This is good news but how long does it normally take to get from this stage to publication? Yours impatiently .....
Thanks Jenn.
And thank you Lizzy/Marcia. It probably will be about a year. They'll try to get me out at the beginning of 2010, I imagine. Sorry it's taken me so long this time, but it wasn't entirely my fault. Faber let almost a year go by after I delivered AVL before renewing my contract. I think they just forgot about me! Anyhow, I've written it in more or less a year, which is about as fast as I can turn them out!
I will put you on the list for advance copies, so it should be less than a year before you get yours!
Roger
Congratulations, Roger - this is great news! (Glad to see the cat didn't scupper the new novel)
Does this mean going writing full-time has paid off? And what's next? A breather or are you throwing yourself into the next project?
Ah, when I meant new project, I meant next draft (jumping ahead of myself a little...)
Hi Matt, great to hear from you!
I certainly don't think I would have finished the novel by now if I hadn't given up the day job. The thing I face now though is wondering whether this is sustainable. Completing the novel brings me to the end of my current contract with Faber. I have to see if they are interested in anything else from me, whether that's another Porfiry book (which I would like to write) or something else (also have some ideas there too!). I have a couple of other things in the pipeline - smaller projects that may keep me busy for a short while and will also generate some income. Well, one, maybe two such things! I like working from home. It's great to have more time to write, and more time to spend with the kids. It probably has sent me a bit mad(der) but what the hell.
As for your next draft question, I am hoping that this first draft is pretty much there. I am one of those writers who edits as I go along. I go back and fix things when I sense a problem, you know, flesh out scenes or characters that I realise need to be more 'there'. I don't really like to leave things sketchy, because I kind of feel the details are crucial, and the details need to be in place as I go along because that is what I build the story on.
I suspect that what I will be doing over the next two weeks is ruthlessly cutting. I hope that I won't discover any major plot flaws. If I do I'm f****d because I have to deliver it by the middle of Feb!!!!!!! No time for drastic rewrites then.
Congratulations! So about a year until it gets published? That gives me a little time to read the one I won recently *lol*
Post a Comment