Echoes in a Hollow Space

So I've now reread and fussed with chapters 16-21 of my WIP, plus all the notes I scribbled along the way, and it's become even clearer to me that I've just about completed the second book in a trilogy. Merde. I've suspected this for some time, but stepping away from it for a month and a half really crystalized things.

It will be a standalone when it's done, with it's own independent story arc, but it still contains references to what happens in book one and book three. Difficult to cut them out without ruining the story arc of this book. Some of it's just clumsy first draft writing and I can probably smooth things out there, but other things are necessary.

How do I market it? Do I circle back and write the first one and leave this on the back burner, or do I market this by itself? I don't know. It's a contemporary story, as is book three, but book one takes place in the early nineteenth century. That would seem to make book one less marketable, but what do I know? I've thought that I could even leave the chronologically first book until last, or make that the second book. That might work. I guess the bottom line is that I need to finish what I'm working on now and figure out where I'm going once that's done.

The double merde aspect of this is that Venus is the third novel I've written in a row that's part of a trilogy. Apparently my imagination is incapable of plotting without S-W-E-E-P.

If I'm honest, all five of the novels I've completed, even the allegedly standalone ones, have been part of some grander schemata. Now here's a sixth. Triple merde.

The other thing? My title may have gone south on me, too. It sort of fits, but I'm realizing I'm going to have to gut many of the references earlier in the book. They just don't fit anymore. Quadruple merde.

Actually I was alternating between London Calling by the Clash and Shirley Horn, which is a strange combo to say the least, but I'm in an inclusive and expansive mood this evening, and the old and moldy stuff suited me fine.

And speaking of old and moldy, I rescued an old novel from the woodpile and decided to reacquaint myself with the research Bible I put together for it several years back.

Am I glad I had that notebook because I sure wouldn't want to read all those books again. They were interesting, but I'd rather press ahead with new books on the same subject. I'm studying Dark Ages Britain which I've been fascinated by ever since I read Rosemary Sutcliff's wonderful historical fiction when I was a kid.

I'm funny about research—if I'm dealing with a historical era, I want to get it as right as I can, even if I go off on fantastic plot tangents (as I usually do). So I will no doubt be obsessed about Dark Age Britain for awhile now. If anyone has any good books on the subject to recommend...

The old novel was one which stalled two novels ago, mainly because I realized my plot was not for a single novel but probably involved two or three—and I just did not want to do the trilogy thing at the time. I also realized certain plot points wouldn't work as conceptualized, but I'd done a ton of work on it. Hated to let that one go.

But as so often happens with me, the Backbrain Country worked on the story while the Forebrain Country worked on other things. The issues resolved themselves. And the novel would make am interesting follow on to the novel I'm currently marketing. Not a sequel, but taking one of the supporting players and making him the main focus. A rare foray into first person for me, but I couldn't see telling this story any other way. The character, Caius, seemed to demand it. I think I might even be up to doing a trilogy now. Have no idea how tough or not tough it will be to market such a thing, but by the time I finish writing the first novel the market could have changed several times anyway, so what the hell?

Besides, as I said to a friend lately, you can't chase the market. That's rather like a dog chasing its own tail.

And on a non-writing note, I got a clean bill of health yesterday on a medical test I've been dreading for months. It was a follow-up to a major illness I had some years ago. They like to do a scan every five years just to make sure it hasn't come back. Neither my doctor nor I thought it had—I felt good, my blood tests were good—but even so, it preys on my mind every time we do one of these scans. The what if mindset is not a good one to possess when it comes to such things. I had to go on a very restricted diet the last couple of weeks before the test so there wouldn't be any conflict with the test and the first week I was obsessing over that, getting irritated and cranky as hell as a way, I realize now, of not thinking about the test. But this last week running back and forth to the doctor for shots and doses of stuff, I realized it was the test I was fretting over. But all done! I'm good to go for another five years and have been celebrating with good food.

And getting back to work, of course.