I’m Writing A Book….Still!

Posted byFractured Faith BlogPosted inA Fractured FaithTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve now reached the two third mark of my fourth edit of ‘The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles – Skelly’s Square,’ my first, and possibly only, novel. Progress has been slow, but steady, this week. As ever, real life has got in the way, and I haven’t been able to devote the time I would like to the project. It has simply been a case of chipping away at it, where and when I can. I’m fighting the urge to rush ahead and lose the quality.

The beta feedback continues to be excellent; positive and constructive. I made a point of selecting as diverse a range of test readers as possible; from teenagers to pensioners, and every decade in between. They all seem to be enjoying the story and Meredith Starc is emerging as the most loved character. Do I need to rename this ‘The Meredith Starc Chronicles?’

I hope not, as Kirkwood is very loosely based on yours truly when he was a struggling office worker in his early twenties; without the world saving potential of course. Some of the lesser, but still vital characters are also being introduced – Cornelius Dobson, Martim Rodriguez, Gunther von Steinbeck to name but a few. It has been fun creating their back stories, where my love of historical research has come to the fore.

Then there’s Colonel Augustus Skelly, himself. The villain of the piece. I’ve put a lot of effort into detailing his physical appearance and mannerisms. He is truly alive when I write about him and I hope that comes across to readers. My wish is that he evolves into that most delicious of characters – the bad guy you love to hate. There may even be a crumb of sympathy as to how he turned out the way he did….but not much.

There are still a few characters to be unveiled, including one largely based on our daughter, Hannah. This has proved a major challenge. How do you do justice to such a huge personality? I’m hoping she likes Harley, her alter ego in the KS universe, otherwise my life won’t be worth living. Harley is a crucial character and crashes into the story soon, driving the plot on to its conclusion.

Much of the early sections of the book concerned character introduction, development and back stories. This has been essential as both Kirkwood and Meredith have dark and troubled pasts, which the reader must understand in order to appreciate their actions and decisions in the present. Otherwise, the story doesn’t make sense. I hope I’ve penned heroes that you can relate to and empathise with.

Then there’s the real hero of the book, the city of Belfast. I’ve enjoyed describing the streets I walk most days, capturing the grime and the beauty in equal measure. Some locations are real, others I have based on reality but allowed myself a degree of artistic license. This is the Belfast of the Kirkwood Scott universe; gritty, but scratch beneath the surface and you will reveal its supernatural underbelly.

I hope to have this edit finished by the end of the month. Then it’s a case of mulling over the beta feedback, et voila it’s finished. I’ll then turn my attention towards researching potential agents and drafting query letters. As ever, I want to thank everyone who has supported me both in the ‘real world’ and the wonderful world of WordPress. Without you, none of this would be happening.

What do you make of the Kirkwood Scott universe?

Are you writing a book? Have you written a book? Are you thinking of writing one? Where are you on your writing journey?

Published by Fractured Faith Blog

We are Stephen and Fionnuala and this is our story. We live in Northern Ireland, have been married for 17 years and have three kids - Adam, Hannah and Rebecca. We hope that our story will inspire and encourage others. We have walked a rocky road yet here we are today, together and stronger than ever. We are far from perfect and our faith has been battered and bruised. But an untested faith is a pointless faith. Just as a fractured faith is better than none at all. We hope you enjoy the blog.

41 thoughts on “I’m Writing A Book….Still!”

  2. I’m writing the first draft of my first novel… so you’re ahead of me. 🙂 🙂 🙂 And the thing that I say to myself when I get tired is

    “Keep Going. Pause if you need it but Don’t Quit”

    Ahm, if you still need another beta-reader, maybe for your other books (because I believe thsi won’t be
    your one and only), I can be one. I can be honest and brutal. hehe… But as an aspiring writer myself, I wouldn’t be brutal with my comments if it’s not needed. 🙂 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  5. All going well you should have some more feedback from me within the next day. I’ve been a bit slow in getting around to it due to other things going one. Yes I really like Meredith too, but then again I find myself quite drawn to broken people.

    Yes I am writing a novel and I aim to have the first draft finished by the end of the year. I have had a collection of my poetry published in the past, and while writing this novel I am also considering putting together a second manuscript of poetry, but it’s early days for that particular project… I am astounded by how much I am writing at the moment. If I do get this first draft finished that will mark a particular milestone of finally finishing a novel I had started. I’ve got about three others at the most half written. Next year I might start serialising my unfinished vampire novel in the hope it might give me a reason to go on and complete it.

    Like

    Reply

  6. My first has been published. I’m working on the second. I was struck by a comment you made concerning the beauty of grime of Belfast. I think if you look around in your settings, you find it everywhere, and I love digging into it. One of the towns I place a lot of the action in my novels is a little real life town of Capulin, Colorado. I’ve made more than a few passing comments that in some respects, it resembled a town in the middle of a war zone that the people had fled from. There’s old adobe buildings, long since abandoned in various states of falling down. Cars sitting in front yards that are rusting away. No sidewalks, just dirt and rocks and the remains of busted whiskey bottles.

    And then right smack in the middle of this is the Dominguez house. they don’t have a lot of money, but there’s trees, flowers, and they’ve done everything they can to keep the place up. It’s an oasis in the middle of landscape of despair. It looks good, and on a warm summer day, is just a nice place to stop, look, and smile.

    Like

    Reply

  7. Congrats on your pursuit, how exciting! I just self-published my first novel, Abusing His Grace. It is a work of fiction about domestic violence in a Christian marriage and a dysfunctional church. It was a slow writing process-I started writing it almost a decade ago, got busy with school and my family and stopped, and recently finished it. No matter how long it takes keep going!

    Like

    Reply

      1. It is available on Amazon right now. I am working toward having it available in bookstores as well:

        And yes, it has been doing well! I feel as though I have accomplished my mission. I have gotten great feedback about it from survivors of donestic violence. That was my desire-to help someone. I pray for your success!!

        Like

        Reply

  8. I love the names you’ve created, and that Hannah will be in there. I’ve got plans for making/writing a book for my grandson (for some reason this shocked my husband) but I doubt I’ll ever publish.

    Like

    Reply

      1. I’m actually having it reviewed by a great agent. She picked it because she liked the concept and now I get a little inside help. It’s just for the letter tho. Not my pages. Hoping to get the new one out to agents soon.

        Like

        Reply

  12. It takes time to write a novel. If people really know all of the work that went into writing a novel, writers would get a lot more respect. Good luck with your novel.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: