Bad For Good underway

I started writing the follow up to When She Was Bad in July. The working title in the first few weeks was When She Was Good, but I soon changed it to Bad For Good, the title of an overblown Jim Steinman/Meatloaf song from the early eighties that’s a nice play on words and repeats the theme of Claire turning ‘bad’ from the first book.
The early attempts at re-entering the world of Claire and Barclay proved frustrating - I just couldn’t get Claire’s voice right in my head. The opening chapter in particular was poor - it felt forced and wasn’t as compelling or breathless as I wanted it. The more I worked on it the worse it got. It was a pretty infuriating time and it took weeks to write the opening couple of chapters as whole passages stumbled along with bad writing, cliches and pointless, rambling dialogue.
Then I stopped completely. An uncomfortable pain had developed in my right arm that turned out to be tennis elbow. Ouch. Very ouch. And my physio told me to lay off the typing for a month, which was hugely frustrating as I was finally finding some rhythm with the story. Barely fifty pages written, and most of those destined for the bin.
The enforced break though proved a blessing - not only did it allow me to work on characters and plot rather than submerge myself in the words (which were proving so difficult) but I also took a more philosophical approach to the first draft: it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact it doesn’t even need to be good. It just needs to tell the story, however clumsily, and everything can be fixed in the subsequent draft.
By the time I was back on the laptop in September I was in a far better state of mind and, without the pressure of ‘getting it right first time’ the words actually started to come easier. My elbow still needs support but it’s fine for typing and the story’s now flowing nicely. I’m even smiling as I write most days, which is the best feeling in the world.
It’s early October and I’m around half way through the first draft - 26k words, 12 chapters finished, which will equate to around 120 pages in the paperback edition (the first draft I deliberately run shorter than subsequent ones).
I’m now pleased with what’s down to date. The early chapters I will rewrite but the work I’ve done over the last few weeks has felt good. All being well it now looks like I’ll get the first draft tidied away before December which is very pleasing.

A quick update on the first draft of Bad For Good

Update on the follow up to When She Was Bad:
It’s going well, somedays very well. I’ve been undertaking some location research with Mrs B. and enjoyed a day’s instruction on the shooting range with my good friend Alan Ward (most definitely not Wardy from the first book!) where I learned enough stuff about guns and ammo to keep me awake most nights. Did you know a sniper can kill from over a mile away? And do you have any idea what a bullet does when it enters the body?? Bloody hell.
Anyway, the writing of the first draft of Bad For Good continues. Of course I have days when the words just flow and some days when I can’t string a sentence together, but overall progress is good. Today (October 18th) I’ve just finished for the day and I have 185 pages done, around two thirds of the way through and I’m just starting the climactic third act. The first draft is very rough and unpolished, just me working out the story, but it feels good with some nice twists and turns. The new characters are coming together nicely and most of the old crew are back, like old friends. Or enemies.
It feels already like an improvement of the first book but we’ll see.
Thanks again for your interest and support with my writing - it means the world to me.
Neil

November 2nd update on Bad For Good

A superb day’s writing today. I’m really pleased with Chapter 20 (working title: Pretty Green) which has just flowed more naturally and quicker than any other this time around. It twists and turns and pulls the whole of the second book together and felt immensely satisfying to write.
Just a few more chapters on the first draft to go now - I’m up to page 220 and flying.
Current mood: pretty darn good

First draft of book two completed

Amazing what you can do when you’re awake all night listening in disbelief to the US election and then decide to dedicate the day to writing in order to escape thinking about ‘the really, really scary thing’...
Anyway, the first draft of the next Barclay & MacDonald novel, provisionally entitled Bad For Good, was finished today. It’s around 54k words, which translates into approximately 250 paperback-sized pages.
As with When She Was Bad the first draft is very, very rough, and the hard work will come with the second and subsequent drafts where the story is refined, events and characters are shuffled about and the majority of words are reworked big time. My first effort had five drafts (six if you count the typo corrections after the initial release) and I think this will require similar work.
I’m aiming to publish it as both a paperback and eBook on May 1st 2017.

Update: a Bad break

First, the bad news on my When She Was Bad follow-up: I’ve somehow managed to break my leg just in time for Christmas, which means I’m pretty much housebound for the rest of this year and the start of next. It doesn’t hurt much now, but the cast and crutches are a real pain, especially on the stairs. Mustn’t feel sorry for myself though - I’ve managed to avoid surgery and a hospital stay. And, as a friend kindly commented, at least it wasn’t my “writing leg” I broke!
I’ve been working on my second draft of Bad For Good but it’s difficult to type with one leg in the air and I’m working in hour-long spells - far from ideal. I’m about a third of the way through (page 90 - deep into TNT’s secret past) but I doubt I’ll have the draft finished for Christmas or even the end of the year. I’ve some outstanding research I won’t be able to do for a month or two and my May 1st 2017 publication date may need to be pushed back a week or two, but we’ll see.
The good news is that the 240-page first draft read much better than I’d anticipated. Still a long way to go and, much like my first book, the second half of the book will require more rewriting than the opening chapters.
I’m toying with the idea of sending out the opening pages of book two to my mailing list in time for Christmas - watch out for it!

A more welcome break at Christmas

I finished rewriting chapter twelve this morning and that’s it for me with the second draft of Bad For Good until after Boxing Day. 147 pages completed and I’m happy with how it’s turning out. The last few chapters have been heavily reworked and I’m now just over halfway through this draft. Progress has been good.
I’d welcome any feedback on the opening pages to the book I emailed round earlier this week. I think this book is going to be a considerable improvement on When She Was Bad and if you enjoyed my first effort this one will blow you away!
Happy Christmas
Neil

Chapter 21 revisited

A friend asked recently if I change much in the multiple drafts I do, and my answer was a predictable “it depends”. Sometimes, I rewrite whole chapters, other times I just tweak some phrases or dialogue. Towards the end of the drafting process every sentence and word is reconsidered, but on the second draft I’m making any changes that are needed to complete the shape of the story or to improve the pacing.

Chapter 21 of Bad For Good is a good example. It’s towards the end of the story (page 233, three chapters from the end) and needs to crack on at a pace to set up the climax. Here’s how it opened in my first draft:

[Claire has had a fight with one of the bad guys and has collapsed in the centre of town] 

‘Are you okay, love?’ 

No, I certainly wasn’t fucking okay. I’d possibly killed a man, hadn’t I? But somehow, and I’m not exactly sure how, I had retained just enough control not to share that with the kindly, caring policeman squatting down on his heels and brushing the hair from my eyes.

‘Too much…’ I managed. He nodded in sympathy. ‘I’ve drunk too much. I’ll be fine.’ 

With an almighty effort and a helping hand from the helpful officer I managed to pick myself up from the wet, dirty paving. The Thames in all of its high tide glory was hurling itself at the wall, drenching the stone paving we were standing on. The rain appeared to be easing but I don’t think I’d ever felt so wet.  

I must have looked a right state. I was in a right state. No wonder he’d thought I was as drunk as a skunk, drunker even. 

His concern was misplaced and, once he’d realised I was unlikely to topple over again and was vertical (if not exactly fully perpendicular) and surprisingly steady on my feet he thought better of giving me the formal lecture on the perils of over-imbibing in a heatwave and told me to be careful. I assured him I would be. He didn’t look convinced but left me to go on his way, righting wrongs and fighting crime like the good ’un he undoubtedly was. 

Fuck. That was close. 

I tried to compose myself, my breathing was slowly returning to normal. My legs were heavy, as if they had minds of their own and had just had enough of obeying my commands.  

Tough. I needed them to get back through the tunnel one more time. How the copper had missed the gun I’d been lying on I’d never know – talk about hiding something in plain sight. I picked it up and put it in my rucksack, along with my empty one. Quite a weight now, that bag. I looked up and around me. Bloody CCTV everywhere. Shit shit shit. I needed to move quickly before the policeman was back to do his job properly.  

My shoulders dropped as I sighed. I pulled out my mobile to call Barclay then remembered it was completely dead – I’d forgotten to recharge it in the café. Bloody iPhones – no stamina. I needed to get myself something better that didn’t need plugging into a wall all the time? What’s the point of a mobile that becomes immobile every few hours? 

Whatever. That was the least of my problems. I shook my head and started back to the tunnel stairs, one last trip back under the river. This time I got the lift at both ends – no point in pushing my reluctant legs to do any more than absolutely necessary.

Not my best writing, I’ll admit, but it did the job in the first draft. But it was too long and too wordy, dawdled when it needed to run and the policeman doesn’t add anything. Here’s how I’ve rewritten it in the second draft: 

Fuck. Nice one, Claire. That wasn’t exactly your finest hour.  

I tried to compose myself; big, slow deep breaths. I needed to move but my legs had other ideas. Standing they could just about manage but running? Forget it - they were ready to call it a night. I looked up and around me. Bloody CCTV cameras everywhere. Shit shit shit. I needed to move quickly before someone at Big Brother central noticed that all was not well down in the centre of town.  

I pulled out my mobile to call Barclay, only to find that some idiot had forgotten to recharge it in the café. Some idiot? That would be me. My shoulders dropped as the world conspired against me yet again. Bloody iPhones – no stamina. I felt a sudden nostalgic pang for my ancient Nokia. What’s the point of a mobile that needs charging every few hours? More like an ‘immobile’, surely?

Whatever. That was the least of my problems. I shook my head, lied to my legs that it wouldn’t hurt this time (honest) and started back to the tunnel stairs, one last trip back under the river. 

It’s now half the length and has twice as much character and, to my eyes at least, reads much better.
I’ve had to do similar surgery on the rest of the chapter. It’s funny - back in an earlier post on this blog I reported that this was a chapter (it was numbered ‘20’ in the first draft) that had really felt good to write, but when I got around to re-reading it this week it was an absolute mess.
Just goes to show how little I know. Never mind, it’s in the process of being fixed now.