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When the angels do sing




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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