A Distant Prospect – ISBN 9780987435101

Progress

Author diary for writing, reading, research

I like a good red. A half-glass of the smoothest pinot-noir, sipped slow, flavouring long and pleasant conversation, is a joy. But, like Hemingway, to whom the drunk and sober maxim of my title is wrongly attributed (apparently Peter De Vries holds claim), and who wrote sober, despite being a […]

Write Drunk, Edit Sober: Blood Letting #1

November 24, 2017 in Annette / By Violence Unavenged / Progress / Sequel tagged Blood Letting by annette

By Violence Unavenged nears completion! It feels a bit like rehearsing a new play. The script is written (mostly!); lines mastered; costumes, sets, and props gathered and made; lighting guys are tinkering. Everyone’s abuzz. Just for fun, the director calls the actors together and has them take a bow to celebrate […]

Curtain Calls: Leech Gathering #11

November 9, 2017 in Book Production / By Violence Unavenged / Progress / Sequel tagged Leech gathering by annette

What is the inspiration behind the title, By Violence Unavenged? Titles are always difficult. How does one best capture the subject, the spirit, and the theme of a book in a few well-chosen words? The Big Three – the Bible, Dante, and Shakespeare – are always good sources, particularly when one’s […]

What’s with the title?: Leech Gathering #10

October 30, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress / Sequel tagged Leech gathering by annette

The past few weeks have been spent rewriting Part One. Five chapters revised and expanded, a total of 10,648 words. Total words in Part One 32,765, so far, aiming for 50,000, making By Violence Unavenged a healthy 150,000 word tome.

Weekly Word Count

October 9, 2017 in Book Production / By Violence Unavenged / Progress / Sequel tagged Weekly Word Count by annette

Winston Churchill once said, ‘Diplomacy is the art of telling plain truths without giving offence.’ The challenge in By Violence Unavenged and its later volumes is describing and creating scenes and characters which are less than pleasant, yet readable. It also involves drawing on unhappy and disturbing experiences from my own […]

The Ugly Truth: Leech Gathering #9

October 2, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

Hitler Arrives in Vienna March 13, 1938. — How do you summarise By Violence Unavenged in 100 words or less? Here’s one draft: ‘I will never forgive … I would have her hang. And if I had to hang her myself, I would.’ Phoebe Raye fulfills her father’s dreams and visits Vienna. Her travel plans, however, conceal her […]

I will never forgive : Leech Gathering #8

September 19, 2017 in Book Production / By Violence Unavenged / Cover / Progress / Sequel tagged Leech gathering by annette

My original intention was for In the Hearts of Kings to be a publisher-friendly, economically written 70-100,000 words. No chance of that. It’s become a trilogy, with each volume being separately published, By Violence Unavenged being the first. Today’s writing session ended with a reconsideration of structure. By Violence Unavenged has fallen comfortably […]

Divide and Conquer?: Leech Gathering #7

September 14, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

One of the challenges of By Violence Unavenged has been make the world of 1930s Vienna accessible to a non-German speaking reader. Music, and song in particular, has proved an invaluable medium. Austrians love to sing, so the inclusion of song is essential in bringing that culture to life. By Violence […]

Handy Music. Leech Gathering #6

September 12, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress / Sequel tagged Leech gathering by annette

In 2013, having decided to shift narrators from Lucy Straughan in A Distant Prospect to Phoebe Raye in By Violence Unavenged, I hoped to avoid writing complex emotional analysis; and instead developed a detached, falsely dispassionate narrator in an attempt to communicate a complicated backstory. What was I thinking? Meanwhile, the little […]

Heeding the Little Voice: Leech Gathering #5

September 8, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

Creepy Aunt? Portrait of Jacqueline Boage, by Sergius Pauser — The first Ailine chapter is finished. This umpteenth draft means Ailine gets a few more chapters. Of course she deserves the attention, and I can see how this set-up will work for Volume Three, which I will have to rough out. Writing is like working on an enormous canvas over […]

Creepy Aunt Chapter Finished. Leech Gathering #4

September 6, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

Creepy Aunt? Portrait of Jacqueline Boage, by Sergius Pauser — Continuing with the first ‘Ailine’ chapter. Passages written two years ago are now being reworked, so I have the words (lucky me). I now have to make pictures: dramatic scenes that best illustrate my purpose (I wonder what that is?). Show, don’t tell. But why is it that I never […]

Leech Gathering #3

September 5, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette

Creepy Aunt? Portrait of Jacqueline Boage, by Sergius Pauser — Evil: the parasite of the Good. Today’s 1000 words has been spent on the villain, Ailine Devereaux, whom I have avoided up till now, but who must be written sometime. I’ve left her till late because she has to creep through the text, and because she exists mainly through other […]

‘That creepy aunt’. Leech gathering #2

September 4, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Characters / Progress tagged Ailine Devereaux / Leech gathering by annette

168,082 words so far! The last five years have been busy ones, after all. By Violence Unavenged first draft nearly finished.

Word count 4 September 2017

September 4, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Word Count by annette

To give myself some encouragement, I am writing a daily update on progress on the sequel so far. By Violence Unavenged, Volume One of In the Hearts of Kings, is nearing completion. I started this novel in the middle, worked to the end, tackled the beginning, and then worked back […]

Leech gathering, or author’s daily update

September 3, 2017 in By Violence Unavenged / Progress tagged Leech gathering by annette