My sample for Peacemaker is now complete and I’ve sent it to my agent. From there it will go to my publisher and (hopefully) I might hear something back before Christmas. I’m excited by what I’ve written, and feel the world and characters firmly in place. There is not a lot more I can do for the moment, other than hope.
So, the Writing the Novel series will take a slight detour, while I talk about the process of beginning my new YA novel, Grave Light (was called Ruzalia) . Although it is the second in the series (bk 1 Burn Bright), the characters have shifted location, so I’ve been spending the morning hunting out visual stimulation, in between writing scenes. Like many people, I have a fascination with abandoned buildings. Not their creepiness, but more the sense of the past that inhabits them. What went on between their walls? What jealousies, passions and betrayals? I get the same quizzical thrill from buying second hand books – though to a lesser extent.
I’ve chosen a couple of buildings on which to model the new setting (the home of Ruzalia the pirate). I thought you might like to see them. These were taken from the weburbanist.com
Using images as stimulation works well for me and I did this extensively with the Sentients of Orion series.
Having two chosen exteriors, I’ll probably end up with a mashup of them.
What do you use to get you going on a novel?
