Started work on my second novel tonight. This is actually an odd one. I wrote the first draft about fourteen years ago.
So, you could say that I’ve had some time to think on it.
Tonight, my main thought is that it’s a much, much better story than I remembered. More importantly, I’m somewhat surprised by the quality of the writing.
It’s a short book. I don’t have an accurate wordcount, but it prints out at about 100 pages . . . which is nothing compared to the tombstone-sized “Assam and Darjeeling” that has been making the rounds.
This is a very different book. Keeley has remarked a couple of times on how dialogue-driven “Assam and Darjeeling” is . . . but just a few chapters in to the Undertake Story, I’m surprised at how much description is there, how limited the dialogue is.
Regardless . . . I’m getting a little creative with my process somewhat on this next novel in that once I finish reading the first draft, I’m going to go back to longhand and write it all from scratch.
Maybe. The first draft is really much better than I expected. I might just solider on through and use my new and exquisitely wonderful notebook for something else entirely.
I’m really surprised at how well the writing works. I didn’t know that the 23-year old version of me knew quite what he was doing.
I may turn out to be wrong.
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In other news, the next few chapters of “Assam and Darjeeling” are up at iTunes. There’s one very nice review there right now, but I sure could use more. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.
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And, yes, I’ve used the photo in this post before. Well spotted, one and all. But it actually has a connection to the new novel. This could very well be a photo of the undertaker’s sister, Miranda.
Poor Miranda.