A New Challenge

I've reached the half-way stage of the latest (and probably last) story about the Walker Family and the Solent Welfare Rights Project and I think I know how various loose ends tie up and subplots resolve themselves, though you can never actually be sure with this cast of characters.

Common sense says I should press on to the end from here and complete that first draft, hopefully in time for quiet reflection and refining over Christmas and, all being well, an ebook serialisation in the New Year.  But siren voices are calling me to try something completely different and more than a tiny bit mad, and one of those voices talks in a distinct Geordie accent.

November, as well as being the month in which some well-intentioned blokes grow moustaches for good causes, is National Novel Writing Month (annoyingly abbreviated to NaNoWriMo which, like quite a lot of acronyms, is harder to say than the phrase it replaces).  The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel during that month.  50,000 is fairly short for a novel (especially one of mine) but a tall order for a month's writing, especially if you have work to do too.  To succeed and produce something worth reading, you need to have done a good deal of preparation and have a clear plan.  The 'Social Insecurity' series had/has little of either.

On the other hand, I have the first draft of a couple of chapters, a notebook full of observations, snatches of dialogue and a well-worked plot, plus photographs for reference, should I decide to commit another story to print.  It would be very different to the other books - told first person from a single perspective and without that neat diary timeline - and while it has austerity politics within its plot, it's no legal drama, social critique or family saga but more of a traditional 'thriller'. 

The tight deadline and limited wordcount might help keep the pace of the story crisp when, as you might have guessed from the photos illustrating this post, the location could slow things down.  The central characters will certainly be lively company.  If you haven't already 'met' Daphne Randall, a snatch of her back story made up the short story here: http://benebook.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/and-winner-isnt.html  She'll have some interesting company on her journey.

I've just about talked myself into trying this now, and there's one extra advantage.  It delays the point where I have to say goodbye to the cast of the 'Social Insecurity' novels, by a month at least.  Sometimes the journey can be so enjoyable you don't want to reach your destination; it's surprising how attached you can get to imaginary friends!