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| Image: art247 |
I spent yesterday working on BACCARA BURNING. I hit another sticky patch with it early on but I think I was just missing the obvious. I put it down to being rusty having had so long away from it, but over the course of the day I made good progress with some important plot points marked and some new angles being incorporated.
I don’t feel Stella and Randolph are gelling as well as in the first book. There was a lot of sexual energy between them that built up between them during STELLA giving the story a lot of drive, but there seems to be something lacking now. There seems to be a certain amount of apathy, yet at other times it is obvious they are in love. They’ve even had a couple of arguments! I can’t quite work them out and I’m not sure how it’s going to end for them.
At times it started to feel like a detective novel instead of a paranormal story! Of course, that comparison made me think of Lennox and I realised I was missing the old boy. Once I get this draft of BACCARA down I can go back and polish up GREENER IS THE GRASS (which is still only a working title) and get it sent out. It’s been through the mill many times and is almost ready for the summer e-book market. Then there is GATECRASH (bet you’d all forgotten about that!). It’s a full length novel written for NaNoWriMo a couple of years ago that I never touched again after draft one. It will go out to agents and publishers in Scotland eventually.
I found time during the day to take care of other things as well as writing. I mucked through my wardrobe and drawers and filled a large bin bag with clothes that were well past their sell by date. I’ll hand them over to charity and by then end of the week some old jakey will be stoating around Leith with my old brogues on.
I watched a new DVD that arrived on Saturday, one I had ordered with the Amazon vouchers I got from work. The Life and Legacy of Spike Milligan. The word is over-used these days but it’s hard to describe Spike as anything other than a genius. The generations of comics and writers he inspired, myself included, is endless.
I remember seeing him on the TV as a kid and being magnetised by his off the wall antics and crazy sense of humour; that sort of thing always appealed to me. Even this morning while walking to work, I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling at the thought of him bouncing around a stage while in a metal dustbin. Class!
Till tomorrow—peace out!
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Freedom from the Mundane 
It’s difficult to avoid the trap of “once they’re together, now it’s boring”. Keep reminding yourself WHY they’re together, what draws them together, and give them obstacles where they have to choose whether it unites them or divides them. A lot of it might not make it into the final draft, but at least you’ll have experienced it with them.
I’m a big fan of the war time books of Spike Milligan, and wrote to him in the late 90’s asking for an autograph, writing c/o Orme Street in London where he had his offices shared with Eric Sykes and others. A couple of weeks later I received my autographed photo together with a short but lovely note from the man himself. I keep the photo on my desk and often think that he was one of the last great and true celebrities and, yes, a genius.