Ghost town…

London, 1970, by Terence Spencer… one of the photos I use as inspiration

I’ve been a bit quiet here, I know. I don’t really have much to update. There are a few publications in the pipeline for this year but they’re a little while away.

I’ve been busy working on The Forgotten Children of Zurat. It’s around 16500 words at the moment. First draft is almost done except for a few blank spots, so I’ve started on the second draft rewrites with the aim of filling in those gaps as I go.

One thing I’ve noticed with Zurat is that I jumped around a lot. I didn’t write a story from start to finish. I let my imagination drift and take me further ahead or jump right back. Whenever I got stuck I’d find some juicy bit I knew was coming up and let the words pour out. There are a few continuity issues because of it but actually not as many as I was expecting.

This is also the reason for the blank spots, of course! But I think if I’d tried to write the story chronologically I would have gotten bored, and lost some of the spark that came from the intensely fevered writing sessions where I tried to get everything that was in my head out before I lost it.

I’ve done a little bit of Zurat art but I’m not really happy enough with it to share. Sometimes I let my perfectionist side have final say ;).

Here’s a tiny snippet from my novella baby…

Her mood buoyed by the prospect of action, Jette forged up the hill, even as the rain started to fall again in earnest. Ilse trudged up the slope, her head down. The windows had eyes, and they watched her pass.

A door opened to their right. An old woman pulled a hood down over her head as she shuffled out into the rain. Two small boys slipped out of the house behind her and ran up the street. One carried a sack, the other a stack of wood. The old woman didn’t react to their passage.

There are no children in Zurat. Only ghosts.