Just as the promoting of one novel begins, the writing of the next must somehow be fitted in.
I have just included a countdown timer on the home page. This is to indicate the, as yet, not-so-impending release of my next book. As it's not written yet, does this make me rash, reckless even?
That might be the case if the story hadn't already been going through the mill, so to speak, on and off now since 2002. Or 2003 (don't remember). The overall story is there, albeit in screenplay format (2 x 60-minute television scripts), but it needs something else – something that only a novel can reveal about the characters.
This is because unless the screenwriter is present at rehearsals and/or during filming, and dares to offer his comments to what is usually a tight group of industry professionals, some of who don't take kindly to suggestions, then the writer's vision of the characters is pretty much left to the abilities and perceptions of the actors and director. So the script, being merely a blueprint, could be interpreted any way. Even the final editing can shift emphasis to an aspect that was not originally intended. Writing this story as a novel will enable me to accurately portray these people as I see them.
It is set during the First World War, and uses a backdrop that hasn't been used much before, if indeed at all.
But that countdown timer worries me... tick! tick! tick! relentlessly counting down like the doomsday clock in ITV's drama series Eternal Law. I will see it in my sleep. Better get writing.
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