30 Nov 09
Goings on at Burnley FC
The rumour mill has it that current Burnley FC manager, Owen Coyle, is bound for Bolton Wanderers FC. Given that Bolton are over £100 million in debt, this seems a risky option for Coyle, still stranger things have happened. As an accountant and business modeller, wanting to know the bottom line comes second nature to me.
Get an idea and everything after follows its form – for a while at least. I come up with a story idea that provides a linking narrative from The Xenocotrix to a planned follow on novel, Refugees. The story, After The Fall, comes to 2,996 words and follows one of the surviving characters trying to make his way across an America that’s falling apart, following the collapse of the West.
20 Sep 09
First Short Story
Write my first short story, a romance called An Empty Bucket which I post to an online writing forum, Litarena. I use characters from The Xenocotrix. Do I want to be an SF author? Let's see where this goes.
Words 570.
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Finish just about in time. 62,000 words, 3½ months. It’s draft, there’s a 2,200 word section which is very sketchy. It’s all pretty sketchy. Still haven’t really used Characters and Events. It’s a great feeling though – as if I’ve just climbed a great peak. Title went through a number of changes – The Anthagerous (from a long-ago dream), The Xenocotrix (the main alien character)… it’s still not set. Football starts with a 1 – 0 home victory over Man Utd.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8202360.stm
What do you do when you write a novel? It’s not good enough to publish or even to show anyone. The net has discussion about editors and proofreaders; I’ve no idea what they bring, and the costs quoted are totally beyond my means – I can’t afford to experiment. I work out there’s lots to do to tidy things up – gen up on punctuation, grammar, other stuff. Ideas are building up and I’m stuck editing my work. Leave Characters and Events for now, get stuck into Notes with a vengeance.
19 Aug 09
First Draft
06 May 09
Burnley Football Club have been promoted to the Premier League (through the play-offs) for the first time in their history. They’ve played top flight football but that was many years ago, long before the Premier League began. I have a program that’s been sat on my shelf for months, if not years, called Novel Writing Software. Between now and the start of the new Premier League season, I’m going to trial it.
Not written seriously before. Can I come up with enough for a chapter? It’s got other stuff like Characters, Events, Notes and even a Timeline. Not even going to look at them.
How much should I write? A novel? How many words in a novel? I settle on 60,000 words. My plan – write this by mid-September 2009. Working title: The Insertion.
Premier League - Burnley
