FEBRUARY 9th 2017
It is now February 9, and I have been true to my writing regime. Every morning I have written 1,000 words or thereabouts. I’m using my novel map… that is to say a page of writing about what will go into each chapter. But, and I’m happy that it happens this way, what I imagined would go into one chapter has spread itself across two. But one of the things I have realised is that because this book relies on accurate research, and I simply haven’t always got the information in my head, that I’m going to be leaving quite a few blanks behind me as I go, with the intention of filling them in later, [so as not to disrupt the flow of the novel as I write it]. It’s perfectly possible to go on that way, I guess, but on the other hand, if I were to have research days, and fill in some gaps as I go along, it might be a more nourishing way to approach the work. So I have decided that I will stop after every two chapters and sort those gaps out… some of them will come up again anyway in the novel. I hope this is a good idea.
