MYSTERIOUS HINTS (Oooh!)

Hi Everyone! A late post today, because I have been taken up with publishing matters of an engimatical, unconfirmed kind.

I can't really explain anything in great detail yet. However, faithful blog readers may find a hint in my recent post about The Scary Place - the point in a work in progress where a writer realises that their plot won't fit into their book, and they're going to over-run their word target. By *a lot*.

Very faithful blog readers may even remember the post I made a while ago when I hit what I thought was the 50% mark (ha ha ha) of this book, and talked about my problems with my published novel Daughter of the Flames, and how I had ended up removing a vital plot arc and a lot of character development because I was scared of just such over-running. And how I was determined not to make that mistake again.

If any of you are now remembering the little remark that I made along the lines of 'why didn't I just turn Daughter of the Flames into two books?' and are now putting two and two together to make, well, two... give yourself a gold star for extreme observation skills.

Nothing is exactly settled yet. I have to write some synopses for my editor. She'll probably want to take them to the boss lady and see what the reaction is there. But I'm excited because if I can convince everyone, it means that I get to write this story the way I really want to, without worrying about word targets anymore. And, when I say excited? I mean ecstatic.

I have so many ideas for scenes that will enrich the characters and deepen the story, so many thoughts about how relationships can develop in interesting and complex ways - so much COOL STUFF in my head. And I'd resigned myself to leaving most of it on the cutting room floor of my brain, or 'telling' it in narrative rather than letting the readers see for themselves. As soon as I realised there was a chance I don't have to do that, I started scribbling lists of new scenes in my notebook, giggling with insane glee. 'Cos that's how I roll.

As a really satisfying side effect, getting my own way on this would mean that I've already technically finished the first draft of the first part. This would pave the way for me to possibly break my (not very impressive) record of one book a year, and manage to write two (the first drafts of them, anyway) for the first time. Go, newly professional writer! Go!

Anyway, more details about this as I get them. Stay tuned to this bat-channel.