Just a final little push!

Remaining Word Count: 3,418

Well, the deadline is Sunday, and I've got 3,418 words left to write. I'm overjoyed that I've come this far and I will definitely finish my 52,600 words on schedule, and on time! Wonderful.

Of course, the book will not be finished on 31st March. Although I'm near the end of the book, I think it'll be longer than 52,600 words, so I will carry on beyond the deadline and finish it. Then I'll need to go over it and re-tweak a few things. It'll be nice just to sit back and read what I've done, as I've yet to do that, and it'll be as interesting for me as it will be for any reader to see how this book has panned out, such is the chaotic way in which I've written it!

There's still time to donate for the Safe Space Write-athon - it's such a worthy cause, please do donate if you can. Follow the Just Giving link opposite (on the right column of this blog).

Opening the portal...

"In triumph, the faerie ensnared by the branch spread her wings and took to the sky, the beating of her wings drumming into Matt’s ears, echoing the pulse in his veins and the speed of his beating heart. For a moment she hung above him, hovering, suspended in the grey fog and the shadow of the looming tree behind. Then she dove downward, curved fingers outstretched, grinning, shrieking with the exultation of freedom. Her pointed teeth flashed red, and she grabbed hold of Matt, plunging her teeth into his shoulder…"

Remaining Word Count: 25,282 words left

Hi and welcome to my first blog post for February! Time really is flying and I've still got over 25,000 words left to write before the end of March 2013. Can I do it?  Well, hopefully. I managed to write 13,000 words in January, so if I repeat this feat in February and March that's another 26,000 words - which covers it!

The story is progressing well, and taking some very unexpected turns while I write it. I'm excited to read the final result, as it's a book written without too much structure and a LOT of freedom. I can only hope the result will be worthy enough and that people will enjoy it.

Matt and Anouska are now at a deadly part of their adventure, where one false move could open the portal to the other side. They are being helped by Sofia, a new character who is part of the brethren of forgotten witches, but using her skills to assist Matt and Anouska and stop them from succumbing to the power coursing through their own veins...

...there's still time to donate for the charity Safe Space, whom I'm writing this book for. Please use the 'Just Giving' link opposite.  Many thanks and see you next time!

Book cover and update

"It is good we are here in Pitlochry, as the energies we have sought for so long are taking shape, right here in the town. For one such as yourself, it might be hard to understand, but do you feel it in the air? It’s palpable, isn’t it? The hairs on my skin are standing to attention from the sparkles in the energy plane."

Remaining Word Count: 31,509

Happy new year! I've been spending a good part of January already writing more of The Black Tree, and now the story has moved to the Scottish town of Pitlochry, where something sinister this way comes...! Matt and Anouska are finding themselves caught up in the festival of forgotten witches - but what are these groups of women, all dressed in long, velvet green tunics, in Pitlochry for? Is the festival just a front, a ruse for something far worse? The black tree feels closer to Matt than ever before, and his dreams of it are becoming more violent. The white faeries are close, and they are coming...

I'm also thrilled to have received the book cover, which has been lovingly created by Suzanne Scott, of Whimsical Lush. Do check out her work, she is a fantastic artist, and I'm very grateful for her work on the cover, which I think captures the gloomy, dark atmosphere I was hoping for. Check it out:

Black Petals

"It wasn’t until he was on a train, speeding away from Kirkcaldy, the rattle of the tracks beneath him, that he came back to reality, staring at Anouska with wide eyes and panic. She looked back at him, her eyes intent, afraid as much as he was. In her hand she clutched the black petal and felt the softness of it. The sensation covered her being, as if the petal was a great smothering blanket, enveloping her in its dark folds.

           

Where it had come from, there was no sunlight."

Remaining Word Count: 38,410

My first post for December comes after a bit of a struggle with the book. I had written a few thousand words prior to this post, but the story had gone off on a tangent and I'd decided that it wasn't going in the right direction, so I pulled on the reins and started again.

I'm feeling now that the story is continuing as it should, with more layers of mystery coming in. It's interesting, but in some of the words I'd written I felt I'd revealed too much of the story line, so chose a new path to keep the intrigue going. Well, I'm only on chapter five, after all, and I think the new way is much better, keeping things closer to my chest (and hopefully the reader) so as to reveal things more slowly, more subtlely.

You'll see from the snippet too that I've based the story in Scotland, starting in Kirkcaldy, Fife. It seemed logical to me to do that, as well as providing some local interest, it kind of ties the book to the charity event I'm writing for, which is based in Fife. However, I've since moved the book out of Fife (on a train journey) heading up towards Perthshire, to a town called Pitlochry. This is where the next 'act' of the book comes into play, with a convention of pagans attending the community hall there. Of course, this is no ordinary convention, as you will discover if you read the book!

As for the black petals, well, of course they're from the black tree of the title...but does the tree exist in our own reality?

Until next time.  Thanks to EVERYONE for contributing to my Just Giving page and spurring me on to keep going with this task! I've got to get my skates on if I'm going to finish this in time...but that's approximately 50 pages or so written so far.

Please donate if you've not already done so - the link is opposite! Many, many thanks.

Blurred realities

"The town had become a reality of blurred visions, a monochrome void; the few people that were outside hurried along, hunched and hooded forms escaping from the cold. Shops and buildings blended in with the pavements until it was difficult to ascertain where one started and the other ended, the white of the snow contrasted with the dark of oncoming night. The only colour he could perceive was Anouska’s blue denim jacket, a beacon of hope to his weary eyes."

Remaining Word Count: 42,008

Another good session on The Black Tree. Matt and Anouska are now entwined in their own destiny, and have narrowly missed an encounter with the faeries, which are not faeries from childhood fantasy tales, but something a lot more sinister...

...in fact, a string of incidents have forced Matt to leave his town, taking a journey with Anouska into the unknown, into a world where the real becomes imaginary, and the imaginary real. Everything becomes blurred, and Anouska explains to him the reason for her finding him, and the reason behind his dreams, and her own.

Building up pace now, the next few chapters are gearing up to be quite exciting!

Thanks for reading :-)

Dreams become real...

"Matt woke, his body trembling from the nightmare. Gasping, his eyes were blurred, out of focus, his mind filling his soul and his senses with the remnants of the dream. It took several moments for him to come to, and see Anouska sat before him, cross-legged, her eyes huge with concern."

Remaining Word Count: 44,653

Not posted on here for a while; been doing other things but it's good to be back. I managed to write another 2,313 words in my current session, although I've been going over the first few chapters as well, tweaking bits here and there and making them even better. I intend to do better this month, and have worked out that if I can do roughly 10,000 words a month I should reach my target by the end of March 2013. So, still got plenty to do, but it's achievable!

I'm pleased with the story. I got a few more ideas to weave into it from reading back my first few chapters. It's amazing how that can happen; my unconscious works better than my conscious quite often, and it looks like when I plan things it's all well and good, but embellishments come later from reading stuff back. I wonder if all authors work this way?  Adding 'meat to the bones' so to speak.

Things are certainly getting more sinister with each chapter, and building momentum. I'm trying to build tension in the book, so it becomes a bit of a roller-coaster ride, but we'll see how it all pans out. It's exciting to be writing a horror book, and I'm enjoying every moment I make on this project. Dreams are now taking centre stage in the book, with many dreams becoming real...but to what purpose? Our main character, Matt, has no real clue as to what is going on, but Anouska is guiding him on, nurturing him, telling him of her own story and how she came to be seeking him out. They are both about to embark on a journey into the unknown, to find The Black Tree...but what is its significance?

Thanks for reading, expect more from me in November on this blog!

Snow in the autumn

"Anouska could not hide her incalculable delight at seeing snow, especially this early in the year. It should have been autumn, not winter. However, thick flakes descended from the sky, and Matt looked out of the window of the house to watch in amazement. He noted also the wind had picked up, as snowflakes were blown this way and that and sloshed against the glass."

Remaining Word Count: 46,966

Hi all. Well, I managed a good session on The Black Tree, writing 2,962 words, reducing my total ever further.

The book is beginning to take shape. It's wonderful to have just a basic synopsis, and then flesh a storyline around it. I'm feeling it's a very organic book, it's being written just with thoughts at the time of writing, rather than a concrete 'set in stone' list of doing things. I'm sure every writer has their own mechanisms, but this serves me well, and gives me surprises while I write it!

One of these organic ideas I've come up with is that of snow coming earlier in the year than normal, and this plays its part in the book. I won't go into detail with this idea here (in fact, it probably needs more work to make it fit properly in the book - that'll come later).

It is great fun to write like this, I'm having a ball with this book. Unlike my other work in progress ('The Dark Shores') which has clear goals and structure to it, this one I'm just having fun and going with the flow of my mind (or my unconscious mind), and this in some way reflects the true me. The genre of horror is also a different beast for me, much used as I am to writing fantasy, but in some ways I'm finding it easier to visualise.

Still a lot of work left ahead of me! More, as always, when I've written it.