The Blue Bricks

Although I have an anthology coming out this Easter - I have been busy writing my next big novel release, The Blue Bricks Part One, for some time. This will be the first book in a trilogy, and when it is released it will have a subtitle, but I’ve just not got as far as thinking of that yet. However, I have got as far as writing about 60 pages or so (I write everything by hand so its a reasonably long process) and it really does feel like its going to well. I always stick to the mantra that “if its boring to write, its probably boring to read” but this has been very exciting to write so far, so I’m hoping that bodes well for the final product. This isn’t the first series of books I’ve written, as it happens. When I was very young I used to write a lot of long stories that were probably novels, and one would follow on from the other etc with the same characters and the same continuing plot - they’ve just never been released. The Blue Bricks will be, then, my first ever published series of books, and I’m very excited about that. Usually, both in terms of novels and scripts, I have stuck to one offs, preferring to move on to other worlds and other characters, but I’m looking forward to sticking in the same universe for three books. This means there is a massive story arc - I know every detail of the end and how the characters develop, so there is a certain amount of anticipation to get to the end of book three, just to be able to write those scenes, but nonetheless I’m enjoying the fact that there is such a gigantic story to tell - and it really is gigantic. There is an entire world to create, an entire world history, a huge cast of characters, cities and much, much more - its quite an undertaking.

Which makes having written the first 60 pages seem quite small. They are, however, laying the foundations. The balance between setting up and story telling is always fun, and in these first 60 pages I’ve introduced the main characters, one of the main locations, created the “world,” hinted at its history and set up the “scenario” that dictates everyone’s life or, as creative writing classes would probably have me call it, I’ve established “the problem.” I’m very pleased with that progress - the story really hits the ground running. Its also helped to establish what will be another unusual(ish) narrative form. I long ago realised that I could not care for petty conventions and ridiculous people saying ridiculous things about how anything should be done, let alone writing - so its being structured how I want to structure it. In this case, that consists of fairly long chapters that are more like parts - the story is divided up into short “books” at the moment - a little like the sections in Lilith’s Tears, but shorter. That may well change, though, and it might just be released in standard chapters. But who can tell.

What these first 60 pages have been especially useful in doing, too, is setting the tone of the novel. I wanted to write a story with a dark edge, again drawing on the Gothic, but one with elements of steampunk, and a fairytale feel - an unreal feel, a sense of unreality which is difficult to define. So far, this has been working out very well. The setting of Aether has the darkness, the steampunk, the fairytale feel, but most importantly of all that sense of unreality that I’ve been after. Nothing seems quite as it should be, or entirely real - which is what I want.

Incidentally, the Blue Bricks is serving another useful purpose. My last two novels, and indeed the novelette I released this Christmas, had all been written before I got tumblr. The editing etc and the process of publishing took place while I’ve been on here, but I’ve not really had the chance to blog about my progress as I write a novel for publication. I can not do that, and shall continue to. More updates soon.