Last week, I had a bit of a small muse about being at a
frustrating part of the writing process.
This week that book has not progressed further, although I
hope it will very soon. Instead, I took a break and went off to write something
else. That something is the book I hope to become Abendau 4.
Now, this is an odd little book, in the sense I have no real
idea if there is an appetite for more in that world. It’s also a challenge
because I hope that people could also start the series with this book.
There is a reason for that. A cunning reason that mostly
goes like this: Abendau’s Heir is, judging by reviews and my own gut instinct,
my weakest book. That stands to reason as it was the first book I wrote. However,
the other two books in the original trilogy are strong.
Now, there are many series I’ve read where the first book
didn’t do it for me (Bujold and Jodi Taylor come to mind) but I went on to love
the rest of the series but this is the digital age where, if a book isn’t quite
what we want we can now go back and change it. I could rewrite the slow
section. Except that I believe it is needed for full understanding and to give
the context to the character arcs of the three existing Abendau books.
Which is why I wanted to write a new trilogy that could
standalone. Which is also why I intended to use two point of views from the next
generation to open with.
As ever, my best laid plans didn’t quite come to fruition. The
voices lacked the story-frame to give a hook. The chapters were nice but not
quite filled out.
At which point, I decided to write chapter three. This
chapter was planned to be from Lichio, outlining the latest chapter in the Most-Unlucky-Protagonist’s
Story.
I began to type. Lichio began to talk. That slightly lazy,
ever so slightly self centred tone was unchanged. Easily, he set enough of the
context, with a simplicity of approach that I’d forgotten I could do. His
chapter, and the maturity of his thoughts opened the story up.
And, like that, the angels sang. They hit the roof joyfully.
They planned the next three chapters. They allowed me a few days to mature that
to let me finish The New Thing.
And, quite suddenly, all is right with my writing world.
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