I'm well aware that I've been a bit quiet as of late, and so I wanted to give you an update on where I'm at with the whole Infernal Aether project.
A few months ago I set myself the target of completing the first draft of the whole novel The Infernal Aether by Christmas 2013. I'm very pleased to announce that I managed to achieve this ahead of schedule - well, (ahem) 22 December in any case.
So I now have a first draft weighing in at around 80,000 words, of which just over half is currently posted on Wattpad (at time of writing - when Chapters 1-24 are online). So there's plenty still to come, you'll hopefully be pleased to hear!
It's been a bit of a hard slog, churning out 5,000-10,000 words a week as well as fitting in the day job, etc., (hence why my blogging's been a bit...non-existent!) but I'm really pleased to have hit that milestone. As a result I allowed myself a break over Christmas from writing in anger, if only to let me look at the whole thing a bit more subjectively.
What next? I've already spotted a number of holes which I need to fill - where the plot doesn't quite hang together, or where character development isn't really working, or where I just need to make things more difficult and more suspenseful for Augustus and co. So I've started rewriting and inserting in certain parts, and plan to keep you updated on this.
However, there's more to this whole process, including a professional edit and cover art which has a bit less of a homemade / cobbled together feel, before The Infernal Aether is unleashed on the wider world with a nice big "marketing splash". To that end there are a few things in the pipeline which I hope you'll find interesting and a bit innovative.
As I said at the outset my intention has been to provide a warts-and-all picture of the development of the story, from initial idea through to final publication, and in the process provide some tips and ideas for others to learn from. So you can rest assured that I will be keeping you posted on my progress here. Watch this space...
And so we come to my New Year's Resolution - to make 2014 the year we can all achieve the dream of a published book which is loved and appreciated by others!
YOU ARE READING
Developing Mister D / The Infernal Aether
Non-Fiction(Or, Developing the Series of Stories Which Became Known As "The Infernal Aether") My warts-and-all, live blogged account of the development of The Infernal Aether (original working title "Mister D"). @dlmackenzie is going to be editing and helping...
