Nick Kyme

After a tough final few chapters, I’ve finally got he entire first draft of Grimblades in the bag.

It was actually pretty plain sailing up until that last little stretch, though I will say a lull in my writing fervour on account of oink flu didn’t help matters.

I finished up the last few bits and pieces of my housekeeping on the novel this morning (and some of this afternoon), and by that I mean spelling and grammar checks, looking out for repeated words, a last survey for typos, re-reading those final few chapters (again), a bit of fact checking and going through my little to-do list that accumulated during the writing of the project.

On a tangent, it’s not a bad idea to make one of these lists during the writing of a novel or other large work. There’s always something that you miss, some inconsistency you might have introduced by mistake or a gap you left to fill in later – writing these down and going back to them at the end is a good idea. Having the list to hand helps you make sure you’ve missed nothing (well, as little as you can). It also allows you to ignore niggles, so as not to interrupt your flow, and get on with the business of actually writing and not editing.

Remember that A4 print out of writerly wisdom I was banging on about last time? Well here’s another one: ‘No writer can stand the attentions of the persistent editor’. I’m not talking about the editor as in the person who reads your book and says what they liked or didn’t like about it, I’m talking about that little voice which exists in all writers, that perfection, that inner-editor, the dark side that can derail even the healthiest writing regimen.

Bring ‘em in, do that, it’s a good idea, but leave until the end or after a chapter, or anywhere so long as it’s not stopping you from writing.

So, the list. I definitely works for me.

There’s always a sense of relief and elation at finishing a novel (depending on whether it was a joy/horror to write – relief is usually guaranteed – elation not so much). Seeing that word count flick up and you’ve reached your target (or thereabouts) is nice. ‘Books should always be as long as they need to be’, someone said to me – that’s right, but do try and hit your agreed word count. Any less and you’re selling your editor short, any more and you could be selling yourself short.

Grimblades in the can then, the next step for me is to get it to my editor and await feedback. Despite my housekeeping (which is usually pretty diligent), I’m sure a few errors (hopefully minor) will have crept in but that’s what read throughs, copy editors and proof readers are for. Still, doesn’t hurt to be fastidious – editor’s like that (take it from me – I know they do).

While that’s ticking over and being scrutinised under the editor’s beady eye, I’ll be turning my attention to new projects. Next up, novel-wise, is Firedrake, the sequel to Salamander, but before that I have a couple of shorter projects to sink my teeth into. More of that in another post.

For now, Grimblades is done and I am heartily pleased with it. I hope fans of Warhammer and the Empire Army series will enjoy it as much as I did writing it (even those last tricky chapters – they turned out very well, though). The book is out July 2010 – I hope you all go and buy it and love it. There, pitch over.

I made a post on Facebook recently (a status update, to be precise), that I was struggling with the final chapter to Grimblades.

Well, I’m very happy to report that the literary ‘bung’ has shifted and, after two evening sessions in the office, I’m well on the way to finishing the first draft of the novel.

I reckon, over the last two evenings, I’ve nailed about 3-4,000 words in total. It was definitely helped with a bit of planning and ‘think time’ beforehand, but I’ve really got over the hump and the change of scenery has facilitated that, I think.

Has to be said, I don’t always write in the same place. Occasionally (more than occasionally), I need to switch rooms or venue completely. This time it was a case of knuckling down after my working day at 4.30pm (I start at 7.30 – 8.00am) and just cracking on. I did a bit of pre-lim in the morning, which set me up nicely, making sure I had opening lines to paragraphs all ready for me to do a re-read and then dive in to create. Then I plugged in the iPod, clicked on ‘Thunderstorms’ (which I love as a way to block out ambient noise and allow me to formulate a clean writing slate I don’t always get, even with instrumental music) and let it all happen.

Mercifully, for me, it did.

Thinking I’ll need another couple of good sessions like those I’ve enjoyed recently to finish this off, then the weekend for a full review and to implement changes I’ve already highlighted.

I’m definitely starting to feel the elation associated with completing a project. This one’s been good, with just a minor snag at the end to spoil th eparty. That’s over now, though, and I’m headed for home.

Funny how a change of venue can result in a change of mindset and fortunes.

Work on the first draft of Grimblades is almost complete. I’m up to the final chapter at last and with a pretty good idea of how I’m going to play it.

Just reviewing the novel only a few minutes ago for a few tweaks I’d noted on a post-it, I’m actually very pleased with how this has turned out. I think there’s possibly the best battle scene I’ve ever written about two thirds of the way through the book and all the intrigue and politicking seems to have gelled nicely with the action stuff – I guess you’ll be the judge of that. All I say is: I’m proud of what I’ve achieved and that’ll do for me.

So, yeah, one chapter to go, plus an ‘ickle epilogue. Then it’ll be a re-read, spellcheck and general spruce and clip (sounds like I’m giving it a hair cut) before it goes to Chris for his initial read through and comments (oh, I’ve got some minor tweaks to make from his reading of the first half – that’ll come in during the ’spruce’ phase).

It’s worth saying that the post first draft ‘house keeping’ is probably as important as the actual writing itself. Here’s where you can give the novel that last little look over, that bit of honing to make it really work and pop. Editors like this kind of thing (I should know) and it really pays to be conscientious as you’ll get a good reputation for delivering clean manuscripts. Authors that don’t have to be really good or they might find themselves with less work than they would otherwise. To be honest, though, the better authors tend to have solid work ethics anyway.

You might have noticed the ‘Currently Writing’ widget has gone missing. Basically, it was rubbish and broke. I couldn’t update it with my latest book data and the system being used just didn’t really work for novels that hadn’t been announced through what’s known as the publication lists. Instead, I plan to not only blog about progress but also add a line to ‘Culture Shocks’ telling folks what I’m currently working on and (hopefully) how far I am through it. Hope that will float your boats in that department.

Well, that’s about it. Going to call it a night there. Long day at work, straight into Grimblades soon as I got in – I figure I’ve earned a rest. Over a 1,000 words down and the end in sight. I’m thinking another week tops on this and I’ll be sending it in. Then it’s on to Firedrake…

Sincere apologies for neglecting my blogging duties of late. I’ve been a very busy boy breaking the back of Grimblades, my latest novel from the Empire Army series.

The good news is, I’m almost 75,000 words in and approaching the final act. So far, I’m really enjoying the writing. I think/hope it’s some of my best material to date.

I’m going a little bit hell for leather as I’ve asked for a deadline extension on the book (which I was kindly granted) on account of my flu last month (which really knocked me back a lot). Even so, I still want to try and hit as close to my original final date as possible with the extension only as a last resort safety net.

Writing the novel, and occasionally glancing at my synopsis from time to time, I’ve been surprised at how much the story has taken me on its own journey. I took a look at the detailed synopsis today just to reacquaint myself with where I was going next, what I had originally planned and why, and discovered I’d done a bunch of stuff earlier than expected and added a whole new strand of material. Still sticking to the plot as agreed, you understand, but allowing it to take me places I didn’t know I was going. It’s been an exciting ride so far.

I do try to post as much as possible, but not only the writing has been sucking up my hours. I’ve also been training for a five-mile relay section as part of a marathon on Sunday (my birthday, incidentally – yes, I know I’m nuts) and then there’s Arkham Asylum too of course…

Good news is, the race will be done after the weekend and with the great strides I’m making on Grimblades, the pressure is starting to ease off a little. I’ll have lots to blog about in a bit. In fact, you’ll probably see a shed-load of posts tonight.

(Oh, and despite what my ‘Currently Writing’ widget says, I am well on into the novel. There’s a slight glitch that my web master’s looking at for me…)

Today it’s been a tale of less Arkham and more working. Yup, I hung up my batarangs for a bit while I got some much needed words down on Grimblades.

Tempting as it was to blow the entire day chasing through Arkham Asylum, my conscience got the better of me and after a little housework (yawn – but fair’s fair when you’ve got an other half), I knuckled down to some serious writing.

I’m glad that I did. Some really interesting and surprising stuff came out as I began to embrace the Stephen King-ian method of story telling i.e. let the story take you where it wants to go. I’m actually really liking the way that Grimblades is coming out, so far. The dialogue and characters feel real, the story is fitting together in ways I never expected and it’s keeping me interested (one of the hardest things, I find, when you’re just over halfway through a novel is sustaining enthusiasm – there’s always that other thing you want to do or that short story you’re tempted to just ‘rattle off’).

After some Chinese take-away this evening, I’m going to have another session on it and see if I can reach the 63,000 word mark. That’s pretty much been my goal for the bank holiday weekend. Not bad, considering the Arkham intervention. I’m still around 15,000 words behind what I had originally targeted before the grip of flu, but at least I’m maintaining pace and not falling behind. I reckon the flu probably knocked me back three weeks in all, and as I tend to write 7,000 words a week minimum (that’s 1,000 a day) then I’m actually slightly ahead – if you see what I mean.

I’m hoping I won’t need a deadline extension. Maybe just for some final editorial tweaks at the end – we’ll see. One thing I will not do is rush it. I’ve been under unnecessary pressure too many times in the past and I won’t go there again. It’ll take as long as it takes (so long as that’s not a silly amount of time – authors take note: be nice to your editors, especially ones that write as well).

So, yeah, about 2,000 words plus today (which is over my usual quota, but when it’s flowing it’s flowing – I deliberately give myself ‘easy’ targets to hit, adhering to that age old adage of ‘under promise, over delivery’ – it’s worked so far…). If I can hit about another 1,000 tonight (doable – the missus is watching that fairly ropey One Tree Hill at 9pm, so I’ll have an hour of peace and maybe then some…), I’ll be just about there.

I’ve actually been building up to a big battle scene that takes place outside Averheim (it’s besieged by the army of Grom the Goblin King – don’t you just hate it when that happens?). Before heading straight into the fray, as it were, I wanted to make some fairly extensive notes and plans for how this scene is going to play out. Multiple viewpoints, ‘phases’ of battle, deployment etc all had to be considered, otherwise I could end up with an incoherent, repetitive mess. I do occasionally find that battle scenes are the refuge of the unconfident writer, the one place where they really go to town on overdoing it and overwriting it.

My belief is that battle scenes are tough to write because of this very pitfall. Like any scene in a novel, a battle scene should be choreographed. It needs purpose, milestones, objectives, complications – really, you should treat it like a mini-novel in itself. It’s way too easy to start throwing in visceral words and more onomatopoeia than you can shake a clanging, crumping, shlerking stick at. Repetition, that most perilous bugbear of mine and every author I’ve ever worked with (every single one, bar none), is a treacherous beast at times such as this. After all, there are only so many times you can cut, cleave, slice, crush, maim, roar, slash, bellow, hammer, thunder, crash, spear, spike, batter, smash someone – phew!

Big battles, you know the Agincourt, Waterloo style affairs with lots and lots of bodies, all fighting in regiments, catapults flinging and people dying or getting impaled all over the place – watch the opening of Gladiator and you’ll know what I mean – big battles are really hard to do. You have to think about individuals AND groups. You need a soldier’s eye view for the really gruesome stuff, the ‘in the trenches’ feel and a general’s eye view so you can figure out who’s winning and why.

They are fun to write, no denying that, and I’m looking forward to the attempted liberation of Averheim. All I’m saying is: planning is everything at these points. You can’t just say to yourself ‘Ooh, battle, battle, battle’ and hope it turns out all right. You’re on your way to narrative soup that way and the sections of books that people skip over (there’s a famous-ish quote attached to that, which I can’t remember – the upshot is ‘don’t write these bits’). Tread carefully, young padawans (and avoid cheesy Star Wars refs too).

Man, not sure where all that came from. In the time and the words it’s taken me to write this post, I could’ve been well on the way to that 1,000 words I was banging on about earlier. Still, this is more like stream of consciousness bloggage – just a warm up for the real deal a bit later on.

Thanks for listening (if you did, that is).