4th down…

So ends draft 4 of the new book. An enjoyable draft by all accounts – a draft where I could relax a little knowing the main problems suffered by the 1st draft have been consigned to history (or a little corner of my laptop’s hard-drive). A draft where the mechanics of the prose was the main thing, not the plot. A draft which frustrated me at times, but also surprised me with the strength of my own writing. My two readers-cum-editors (Louise and Lee) so far agree with me the new book is a big improvement over the first; they agree that I’m fast learning my art…

So now to the final stretch, that last draft before Will Atkins at Macmillan New Writing gets to see the new book (still without a firm title as I seesaw between Soldiers of Fire and The Burning Sands of Time). This is the crunch draft, the one which will either see a second published novel, or a dark mourning of the soul to ponder my future and where I go next. What I do in the next few weeks will determine whether I fall foul of the “2nd book” curse or whether, really, the new book is just as good (or possibly better) than The Secret War.

Which is what I’m aiming for. I was never going to just rehash The Secret War, nor cop-out and write a dreary sequel. If anything, the new book is darker, the characters more fragile, battered and bruised.
For there is more at stake. Not just for the characters of the Soldiers of Fire/The Burning Sands of Time…
…But for me too.