Book Two
Dated: Thursday, 19 February 2009 13:39:54

It feels good to be properly writing again. I have this routine where I get up at 7am and try to get a few hours done before breakfast, which really helps. There was so much noise around Raw Shark Texts for so long that it made getting past all that kinda difficult. The book came out in the UK in March 07 but I was still touring with it into Summer 08, which didn’t leave a whole lot of headspace to really gear up for the next book. Things have gone a little quieter now (but not too quiet, which is nice) and I feel like I can finally be all-the-way excited and involved in the next big project.

I know it's way too soon for me to be talking specifics about the book, which is a shame because I’m at the stage where I want to talk to EVERYONE about it. On Monday there was a moment where, after hours of staring at the screen, something technical finally clicked into place and I got a real this-is-happening buzz. It’s quite a challenge to write, this book, and every bit as much of a house of cards as Raw Shark Texts (though in a different way). I think it also continues the principle of rewarding the active reader, something that I started out with on Raw Shark. Like Shark, the reader has a lot of control over how they read this story, more control perhaps, but again – in a very different way. It’s annoying to be so vague! I can say that the section from Monday made me so happy because it’ll read very differently on the second pass through the text, or depending on where… nope. That’s too much.

Is there anything I can actually say about the book at this stage? Well, again the first word of the title is ‘The’, and there will be a returning character from The Raw Shark Texts. Actually, two characters, though the second’s part in Raw Shark could barely even be called a cameo. There’s also a much larger cast, a historical figure or two and some rather extreme typesetting. There, how’s that? Oh, and excitingly - and bizarrely - there is already some interest in the film adaptation!

I’m now going to get back to writing the thing.

More soon,

S