FEBRUARY 4 th 2017
Today I began my novel, The Child Cephalina. I am committed to writing 1,000 words each morning, or more if they come without hesitation. For once, I intend to note the date on which I began it because people sometimes ask me that question for some reason or other, and I can never answer it, I always say something like ‘Oh, a while back,’ or ‘some time ago.’ My commitment to the novel does mean that I have to get up at a reasonable time, something I haven’t been doing for a while now.
I’ve got a chapter map, which is no more really than the rope sides of an old bamboo bridge across a gorge. I’m hoping my brain will adapt itself quickly, so that the very first thing I think about when I wake up is the world of the story I’m trying to write. I think as things become clearer, like settings and atmospheres, and the characters become easier to see and manipulate, then I’ll be more confident about it all. I’ve done a fair bit of research as the story is set in 1850, but it’s difficult to know when to stop doing that and get on with the writing itself… but anyway, research will be ongoing, but not during the time I’ve given over to the writing itself. When I’ve written something that I reckon I should check out through research, I’ve made the font purple so I can find it easily. And there are particular sentences that I’ve highlighted in red so that I can track backwards and find when I first mentioned something, perhaps the introduction of a character. I suppose the different coloured parts are a bit like way markers. I’m going to need a lot of luck and discipline and I’m a bit rusty with the discipline part.
