Dec 25, 2012

Christmas? Humbug!

The great advantage of being English but living in Germany is that you have a one day advantage over the rest of the country when it comes to organising yourself, presents, food and everything else. So I can blog with a clean conscience on the 24 December. Christmas doesn't start until tomorrow and I can do a stock take on how things are going:

 1) Timetable - not so good. I should be well into the chapters by now, but I'm just dabbling my toes in chapter 1.

 2) Plot - good. I have a clear plan for what is going to happen. A plausible criminal background, attractive backclothes (Munich, London, Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Venice) and a great ending in mind.

 3) Characters - the backstories (see Good Stuff) were a great help and I feel the characters are realistic and interestingly ambiguous. Ferdinand and Irmgard are still a bit sketchy, but I'm intrigued with the idea of Irmgard being a former test-pilot for the Luftwaffe.

 4) Information about E-publishing - aaagh! Not good enough. Can anybody help here?

 I will disappear now until January 1 2013 when I hope to have the first chapter ready for you. Many thanks for following this blog so far, and I hope you 'll stay with me next year. I need you!
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5 comments:

  1. Lotte1/1/13

    Hi James,
    recently I found out from which other project you derived your timetable. And if you do not strive to write as much as 500 pages, you may well be able to keep your deadline in August...
    And I was really stunned to learn that your approach to ask for your readers comments and eventually incorporate them in your further writing is not an invention of the Internet age but more than 150 years old.
    ;-) Lotte

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown1/1/13

      Where are your sources, Lotte? I'm very curious.

      James

      Delete
  2. Lotte2/1/13

    Hi James,

    I'm quite pleased I could make you curious ;-)

    Have a look at "The novel was first published in serial form in Dickens' weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861" in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations.
    This is either a very careful planning from your side or a really interesting coincidence.

    And "The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback." in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens

    Lotte

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown2/1/13

      Well, I've always aspired to be the Charles Dickens of my age. Glad you recognised it before anybody else, Lotte.

      James

      Delete
  3. Unknown2/1/13

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

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