Black Hours Diary 10 - Milestone 1

Today – actually one hour ago to be precise - I completed the first draft of The Black Hours, and I can honestly say it’s the finest first draft I’ve written. Period.

Usually my first drafts require a shitload of re-working (see The Horde of Mhorrer, but then I’m sure I'm in good company there), yet this time I can’t see the same thing happening with The Black Hours. It just seems to work. The characters are dynamic and colourful, the situations are largely believable for alternate history, and the action unrelenting. At times I’ve broken my own rules of writing (and a few others’ rules I might add) but still it works. It’s like I’ve stumbled on a great recipe by throwing things in by instinct rather than looking through any book on writing thrillers.

The proof will be in the tasting, obviously; I’m not overly fussy when it comes to food, so I’ll be seeking a second opinion when I get the “readers” together to view the third draft some time in Spring 2009.
Yep, it’s going to take that long, because I’m taking a break before the 2nd draft (and another break in Jan 2009 before the 3rd draft to deal with publication matters). The pause until September will be a relatively tiny one, but enough to recharge the ol’ brain-cells. I might finish a couple of the half-done short stories that I’ve tinkered with this year already, or perhaps revisit the children’s book that Macmillan have had sight of.

Or I might even just take a break from writing completely for a few weeks. After 130,000 words in roughly three months (give or take a vacation to Greece and those hectic Mhorrer proofs), I think I’ve earned it.