78,000 words in, the last chapters are all outlined and I know how it ends. I even have a title: The Unmaking Engine.
Most days now, I can be found in the study/dining room/music room. One day, I might have a room just for writing. Hey, I can dream. Macbook fired up, Scrivener open, a big pot of black coffee at my elbow, headphones on, listening to rainymood (sometimes along with some Brian Eno). Spending so much time with my head in a universe I first started to create a couple of years ago is oddly discombobulating. (Any excuse to use the word ‘discombobulating’.) The characters have developed, the world they inhabit has grown in strange and scary ways and the bad guy is about to…well, I think I’d better leave that for the reader to discover.
Something happened about halfway through writing the book that took me by surprise. I shouldn’t really be surprised, as almost exactly the same thing happened while I was writing TWW. A character appeared that I wasn’t planning, but was so intriguing that they ended up being featured quite heavily. This time round, the character I’m referring to might end up with his own book. Watch this space.
I’ve also written the first chapter of a completely different novel. Written in pencil in a children’s notebook. Not my usual modus operandi, but I was in the gift shop at a nature reserve when inspiration struck, so needs must. It has such an intriguing premise that I might have to write it next just to find out what happens.
The World Walker has – at the time of writing – 113 reviews on amazon.co.uk and 27 reviews on amazon.com . Thank you, all of you!