A few weeks ago, in one of my social posts, I teased a new project I was about to start working on by stating “Something dystopian this way comes…”
If you want to view the post, you can do so here on whichever is your preferred platform: Facebook | Instagram | Tiktok (and while you’re there, you might as well follow me if you haven’t already)
Quite a few weeks have passed since I posted that teaser, during which I’ve again edited the final instalment of the With Time to Kill series and have sent it off to the editor. I was also not terribly well for a week or so – my wife, daughter and I have all been battling a cold – but nonetheless, I’ve made a strong start to the new project. I’ve approached this one differently from my previous book, and to illustrate what I mean by that, I need to talk about the two types of writers (or at least the two types that are broadly accepted).
The first is the Architect.
Architects plot and plan and make copious notes, knowing most things about their story before beginning to draft in earnest. From what I’ve read, I’m led to believe George R. R. Martin is an Architect, as is Jeffrey Deaver. There are loads of others who fall into this category, I’m sure; those are just two I know have voiced practices of the Architect style of writing.
The other kind is the Gardener.
Gardeners start writing even when all they have is an idea of a situation or character. They plant this idea and watch it grow, narrating as they go along. Some refer to this style of writing as ‘Pantsing it’ (as in to fly by the seat of one’s pants). Stephen King is perhaps the most famous example of a Gardener/Pantser – certainly, he’s very vocal about it, stating his belief that ‘plot is the last refuge of bad writers’ and that taking notes is ‘the best way to immortalise bad ideas.’
I’d always fancied myself as being the kind of writer who follows his characters, documenting what they do and say, rather than engineering it, but I have to admit, for every one of my three published novels, I’ve filled my whiteboard with plot points and notes.
Not this time, though.
The project I’m working on right now started as a vague idea that came to me about a decade ago. I knew it would be dystopian, but when I started out as a writer, it felt too big for me to tackle, and so I focused on other things. Now that the With Time to Kill trilogy is complete, I revisited the idea.
Sitting here, writing this post before taking a break for a week, I have written around half of the first draft of this new dystopian thriller – and there’s not a single note on my whiteboard, nor anywhere else. I am literally making this shit up as I go along, and I’ve got to tell you, it feels fantastic. The story is flowing. Every day I discover things about my characters that I didn’t know the day before. It’s a hugely rewarding experience – like I’m satisfying both the desire to read and the desire to write at the same time.
So, what’s this new book all about, then?
Well, you’ll need to wait until it’s finished to find out (because I won’t know until it’s finished, not really) but I can let you in on one or two things so far:
We find ourselves in a world which has been rebuilt after a catastrophic war. Sea levels have risen, changing the shape of the world that remains. In the ashes of the war, a new regime has risen, rebuilding a cleaner, almost egalitarian society in the only part of the world where humanity remains. We join an orphan girl, on her way from one megalopolis to another, to see out her final year in foster care. But, her journey is interrupted by a tall stranger with impossibly black eyes, and he is intent on taking her somewhere else entirely…
There. That’s your lot. If you want to know more about this story, you’ll have to sign up to my mailing list (hit the button in the menu that says GET FREE STORY or find the sign-up form at the bottom of the page). Subscribers will be offered an advanced copy of this manuscript as and when it’s ready for reading.
Until then, all the very best,
Frank