Wednesday 1 April 2015

BABBOOK DRAFT #1 - FINISHED!

Hello, hello, hello, oh lovely readers! Yes, that's right - my blog title does not deceive you - the first draft of the Beauty and the Beast retelling and companion novel to Shadows on the Moon is DONE.



That's all of it, right there, in it's original longhand form on top and typed up and printed out in the folder on the bottom (which is already collecting Post-It notes as ideas for revisions occur to me). It'll stay there for my usual two week maturation period before I re-read it, mark the manuscript up, and then edit the whole thing. Once that's done it'll go off to Wonder Editor and Super Agent and we'll see what they have to say.

Normally at this point I'd be indulging in an orgy of reading, DVD and TV watching, and fun train journeys to various nearby metropolises - but on the very same day that I finished this first draft of BaBBook my copyedits for Frail Human Heart popped into my inbox, so I'm working on those instead. It's not exactly a hardship: I have very, very fond feelings towards Frail Human Heart and am not at all sick of it (which I usually am of every book, by copyedit stage!) but I definitely want to be finished before my birthday next week, so that I can enjoy a day out without feeling guilty.

Some facts about BaBBook in its first draft - all of which are subject to change between now and publication:
  • It is just over 83k words long. This is longer than Frail Human Heart (81k) but shorter than Shadows on the Moon (103k)
  • The first word in the book is Once (that's in the preface) but the first word of the first chapter is There (you can read the first page and see the book's writing playlist here, if you haven't already)
  • The heroine's name is Hana. It means 'flower' 
  • I wrote the last 50k of this book in four weeks
  • I had a mega-huge dramatic emotional scene planned for the end of the book, but I got five lines into it, stopped, looked at what I'd written, and decided THAT was the perfect place to end instead. The same thing happened when writing Shadows on the Moon, oddly enough!
  • The last word of the book is You
  • BaBBook contains not only talking trees, monsters, and shapeshifters, but also the undead (they weren't in the outline, I don't even know what happened)
  • There are twenty three chapters
  • Just like Shadows on the Moon, the book starts with a haiku
  • Now that I'm finished I can finally take this pile of books off the arm of my chair! They've been there for over a year.

In other news, the copies of Things I'll Never Say (which has the Shadows on the Moon prequel story about Akira) have arrived from Amazon, and I'm ready to do the giveaway!

Let's make this one low key - just comment on this post and tell me a secret (big or small) and then tweet a link to this post with the hashtag #thingsillneversay and in a week's time I'll put all the names into a random number generator and pick out two winners. You must use the hashtag, folks, or I won't be able to find and count your tweet. Each winner will get a signed copy of the book and assorted swag. This is UK only.

Next week I'm planning to do another music post - I was thinking I'd do my top six all-time favourite songs by female artists or female led bands, and then the following week the top six by male artists or male led bands. This isn't including classical or soundtrack stuff, because I recommend that all the time, so you've already seen all my favourites there.

If anyone has any questions about writing or reading, or suggestions for post topics, let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can make of them. Read you later, muffins!

11 comments:

Amy said...

This is super exciting news! I love the name 'Hana,' it's so pretty :) Good luck with the copy edits!

Barker and Jones Staff said...

I'm super excited for this book...Shadows is my favourite of your books.

I'll like to enter the competition but I don't have Twitter! Ah well...

Rachel Balcombe said...

My secret is something I don't admit to many people: that I actually do care if my dad wants to be a part of my life.
I literally can't wait for this book - beauty and the beast was always one of my favourite stories as a kid and I can't wait to see how you've re-imagined it. :)

Zoë Marriott said...

Amy: Thanks :)

B&JStaff: I'll enter you anyway - doesn't seem fair otherwise.

Rachel: I feel much the same way about my mum. Oh, well. Good luck with the random number generator (since we only have two entries so far I think your chances are preeeetty good).

Barker and Jones Staff said...

Thanks a million Zoe! In that case, my secret is this...I have a big stash of Pringles (which I gave up for Lent) just waiting for Sunday morning... :D

Phoenixgirl said...

Congratulations!

Interestingly enough, the top notebook in your photo (the gold-and-black one with the magnetic closure) has the same cover as the calendar my mom bought from that company last year!

Zoë Marriott said...

I didn't even know they made Calendars! Maybe they're not available in the UK? That is actually my favourite notebook ever. I saved it and kept it safe for five years to be able to use it for this story. I wish I could get another one but they're soooo expensive, and I have 75 other notebooks already...

Phoenixgirl said...

The website calls them dayplanners, apparently. I think this format is what my mom's been getting: http://www.paperblanks.com/us/en/collections/5/filtered?collection_id=419#3691

My latest journal is one of theirs - the cover has a silver filigree pattern on a blue background, and there are little metal clasps to hold it shut. It was more expensive than I had bargained for, but it was so gorgeous I couldn't resist. It looks like an Elvish spellbook or something.

Barker and Jones Staff said...

Oh we sell Paperblanks! They are fabulous, aren't they? I'd never dare write in them. :D

Zoë Marriott said...

B&J Staff: Well, they're so beautiful that I can never resist buying them. But I'm poor, and they're expensive. If I buy something that expensive then I can't really afford to not use it. And at least that way they count as a business expense...

Eleanor said...

I'm looking forward to the music post, and your new books! Been trying to think of a secret that's not depressing (i.e. from when I was depressed)...erm, I used to have a nipple piercing! Took it out after it kept getting painfully caught on stuff. :D

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