Wednesday 3 June 2009

A Boy of Blood and Clay?

A small update, because I've left it far too late this evening and after a couple of glasses of wine I'm a wee bit sleepy, but it's been a while and there has been some progress.

I've hit the 10,000 word mark on the new project, which is, well, not that much really. If I was sticking to my NaNoWriMo schedule I'd be way ahead, but at least I've been adding words every day, which I believe is more important than the overall wordcount. I find that as soon as I have a few days off, getting back into the book is a harder and slower process than it needs to be. So if I only do a few hundred words one day, it's not a disaster because at least I'm still thinking about it and forming the story.

I'm currently working on chapters 3 and 4. These first few chapters are largely about introducing the characters and the situation, and not too much about setting the scene; because both Bad Apple Bone and Bird and Tower were set in entirely fantasy worlds, I had to spend a large amount of time sketching out the world the story inhabited, but as the new project is set in London, this is not so much of an issue. That's not to say I'm not bothering with "building the world", because I love this city and it's lots of fun to write about.

One thing I am having difficulty with is the title. I know it's not essential to have one in place at this stage, and certainly Bad Apple Bone was a good number of words in before the title came, but it is irritating. "The Odd" was originally chosen because I had a vague idea to base the journey of the main character on the Odyssey, but that idea has been pushed aside a little in favour of less wanky ideas. I still half like it as a title because it refers to the odd nature of the story, but... I dunno. My only other reasonable idea has been "A Boy of Blood and Clay", which is appropriate, but possibly a little long.

So what do you all think? Stick with The Odd for now, or give A Boy of Blood and Clay a try?

12 comments:

  1. A Boy of Blood and Clay (checkmark)

    It really caught my imagination when I first came to the post...

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  2. I really, really like A Boy of Blood and Clay.

    A lot.

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  3. I think A Boy of Blood and Clay is aces!

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  4. Oo, that's very interesting! I honestly thought people would hate that title, but so far the reaction is positive. :) It is growing on me, although I wonder if it should be The Blood and Clay Boy.

    Hmmm. Now I see it written, maybe not. I can't decide!

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  5. Nope, the first version is much better.

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  6. Title reads fine to me.

    But what's Bird and Tower? I thought Bad Apple Bone was your first novel?

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  7. Ah, Bird and Tower is the secret novella I don't talk about... ;)

    It's the book I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year; completely different to Bad Apple Bone, and for some reason I haven't got to writing about it in my blog yet. Hmmm. That'd give me something to write about next time then I guess!

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  8. A boy of blood and clay rolls off the tongue nicely.

    London is a great city to set fantasy in! I've done that in my last bit of writing. It's all set around London Bridge and along the south bank. It's my fav place in london and the cobble stone backstreets lend themselves perfectly to an eerie fantastical tale!

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  9. Cool! What have you been writing missus? :D

    London is so full of interesting stories it just makes sense really. And it's the first time I've really written anything in both a real place and the present day, so it's an interesting challenge.

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  10. Too many uses of the word interesting there. Doh!

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  11. I think it's really interesting.. :-)

    It's my usual demon-filled crap lol!

    At the mo, it's a synopsis and a few half ass attempts at various chapters... I've been trying to get back into writing recently, but I lack the motivation. I think it's because I'm so used to writing as a partnership that now I don't have anyone emailing me every five secs about the latest chapter I'm finding it hard to get back into.

    I re-read over my stuff a week or so ago, and I still really like the idea behind the book, I just have to be more disciplined lol!

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  12. I find the discipline hard too, as well as just finding the bloody time to do it! Normally when I finally get an hour to myself my body takes that as a signal for nap time, rather than writing time.

    I'm very glad to hear you're getting back into it :D Is this the same project you were working on before, or are you trying something new?

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