A peek over the hill
Okay, so I know I probably don't need to be thinking about novel number seven at this point, but I'll have finished White Light in another month and a half or so. And although Cold Witness is still to be fully revised, I need something to keep me moving forwards. I don't like the gaping void that lies just ahead. It has to be filled with a new project!
So, I basically have two options for my next novel. I can write another Cold Witness book, probably set a couple of years after White Light, but there are a number of problems that arise from that course of action. I'm worried about running out of new takes on the Cold Witness theme. White Light still runs on most of the same themes as PCW, but they're different in many important ways. How do I create yet another distinct Cold Witness book, a novel in its own right, different yet related to the other two? It can be done--I'm pretty sure of that. But it might take me a while to find the right solution.
My second choice is to move into something different. I've written fantasy, historical fantasy, fanfiction, science fiction, technothriller ... how about something else? Or maybe another go at one of my 'old' genres? I've still got the plan for Evil's True Form, a HistF set at Iken in the Dark Ages. The plot and characters are decidedly crude (I did the prewriting nearly a year ago), but it can be whipped into shape given a little care and attention. It's certainly as original a story as I'm likely to come up with, and despite the mind-boggling amount of research that would have to be done, I think it's a project that I would like doing. Corruption in the early Church. Demons and pagan magic running rampant over Saxon England. Churches moving in the night, devils ... you know the kind of thing.
Another idea I've always liked the sound of is urban fantasy--not necessarily in an urban setting, but in a rural setting. East Anglia would be perfect (in fact, all my current books seem to be largely set there). It can be cliched if handled incorrectly, but all I need is a new-ish idea.
But do I really want to move away from the Cold Witness series yet? After all, the time will soon come to start submitting Project Cold Witness to agencies, and then I'll be revising White Light ... maybe I should stick with this genre for a while. Despite the unlikelihood of the Cold Witness books really taking off commercially, I've got to consider the implications of constantly shifting from one genre to another.
Well, we'll see. I've still got a month or so before my current novel comes to an end.
Okay, so I know I probably don't need to be thinking about novel number seven at this point, but I'll have finished White Light in another month and a half or so. And although Cold Witness is still to be fully revised, I need something to keep me moving forwards. I don't like the gaping void that lies just ahead. It has to be filled with a new project!
So, I basically have two options for my next novel. I can write another Cold Witness book, probably set a couple of years after White Light, but there are a number of problems that arise from that course of action. I'm worried about running out of new takes on the Cold Witness theme. White Light still runs on most of the same themes as PCW, but they're different in many important ways. How do I create yet another distinct Cold Witness book, a novel in its own right, different yet related to the other two? It can be done--I'm pretty sure of that. But it might take me a while to find the right solution.
My second choice is to move into something different. I've written fantasy, historical fantasy, fanfiction, science fiction, technothriller ... how about something else? Or maybe another go at one of my 'old' genres? I've still got the plan for Evil's True Form, a HistF set at Iken in the Dark Ages. The plot and characters are decidedly crude (I did the prewriting nearly a year ago), but it can be whipped into shape given a little care and attention. It's certainly as original a story as I'm likely to come up with, and despite the mind-boggling amount of research that would have to be done, I think it's a project that I would like doing. Corruption in the early Church. Demons and pagan magic running rampant over Saxon England. Churches moving in the night, devils ... you know the kind of thing.
Another idea I've always liked the sound of is urban fantasy--not necessarily in an urban setting, but in a rural setting. East Anglia would be perfect (in fact, all my current books seem to be largely set there). It can be cliched if handled incorrectly, but all I need is a new-ish idea.
But do I really want to move away from the Cold Witness series yet? After all, the time will soon come to start submitting Project Cold Witness to agencies, and then I'll be revising White Light ... maybe I should stick with this genre for a while. Despite the unlikelihood of the Cold Witness books really taking off commercially, I've got to consider the implications of constantly shifting from one genre to another.
Well, we'll see. I've still got a month or so before my current novel comes to an end.
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