If I've not had much to say here in recent months, it's not because I
haven't been busy. In truth, 2014 has been one of the most productive
years of my writing life, but other than offering a series of endless
progress reports on steadily increasing word counts, I don't find that
there's much to say about being in the act of producing another book.
Put simply, it's not very exciting. I start my day, I produce my
intended wordage, I back up and switch off my computer - and then repeat
for eight or nine months or however long it takes. I'm also loathe to
talk in too much depth about works in progress. I used to worry about
killing my own enthusiasm - now I worry about killing everyone else's.
Still,
the book is in. This is the third and final volume in the Poseidon's
Children trilogy, and as yet it does not have a title, although a few
possibles are floating around. Although the end result might not seem
strikingly different to its predecessors, it's actually presented quite a
radical change of routine for me. Although I'd been thinking in very
general terms about the third book for almost as long as I'd been
thinking about the trilogy - going back to 2008 - that's a world away
from having a clear sense of the structure, plot, characters and so on.
In
October of last year, though, I set about producing a 12,000 word
outline for the new novel, a level of planning completely outside my
usual experience. I'd produced detailed notes for a few of my earlier
novels, but nothing compared to this. In fact, by the time I finished
the outline, I felt like I'd put in all the creative effort of writing a
book, but with none of the emotional payoff of actually having done the
thing. Nonetheless, when I did start work on the novel, I had the
confidence of that detailed outline to keep me on the straight and
narrow. Not having to worry about where the story was going proved a
major blessing, as I personally don't find the working through of plot
mechanics all that satisfying. That's not to say that the novel wrote
itself - there were setbacks, changes of plan, anxious weeks - but the
overall shape of it did adhere fairly closely to the outline, and I
always had a clear sense of where it was headed. I started the actual
writing in the middle of February, and proceeded with few interruptions
right through to the middle of September. Along the way I completed and
delivered two lengthy short fiction projects - a 40,000 word novella,
and a fairly long novelette, and I also wrote a few shorter fiction and
non-fiction pieces for various people. I purposely kept my travel to a
minimum this year, attending a science festival in Edinburgh and the
London worldcon, followed by a short promotional tour in Sweden, during
which I found time to do a bit of writing on the move. I took a few
weeks off from writing due to minor illnesses and family obligations,
but other than that, I was pleased at how many available days were
actually occupied with productive work. It was good to fill in progress
on a wall calendar, and see the word count progressing reliably from
week to week.
I started work on the 12th of February, which is the
date I was able to move into a new purpose-built garden office. We'd
had it constructed over the winter - mostly during those long weeks of
dreadful rain which afflicted the UK in the early part of 2014 - but it
took several weeks to get the interior painted, carpeted, and fitted out
for occupation. I made a conscious decision to deny myself internet
access, and - speaking only for myself - that has worked out
tremendously well. In my previous writing rooms, I have always made a
point of not having internet in the room itself but the weak link has
been that it is always present elsewhere in the house. However, now I
simply don't have it, and the wifi signal is too weak to be useful even
if temptation gets the better of me. Surrounded by music, and with a
kettle on standby, I find that I seldom miss internet access during my
writing hours. If I need some vital piece of research, it can generally
wait until the evening. That's just me, though - what works for one
writer would be intolerable for another.
The book will now go
through the usual round of edits, always more work than I care to
remember, but in the meantime I am busying myself with a bit more short
fiction, as well as thinking ahead to the next two novels. I don't know
about you, but I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the shape of SF at
the moment. I came away from the London worldcon invigorated and
enthused, and determined to continue adding my voice to this great and
tempestuous conversation of ours.
(cross-posted to www.alastairreynolds.com)
