Starting Something New

First of all, I’d like to thank Cassie for her excellent post last Friday. When  I decided I was going to open up this blog to guest posters I knew she would be the first.  She’s a star. To think, we first met back in June 2004. That’s like, five years ago. Shit, how time flies.

I’m still looking for guest bloggers by the way. If you’re interested, let me know and we’ll see how we can help each other.

Anyway, to other matters. Although I’m still working my way through the first draft of Eternally & Evermore to turn it into a second draft that I can actually submit, I’m also working on the next story. I may have mentioned it before but I’ll fill you in on it a bit more now. Of course, this is just the outline plan right now, and things are bound to change as I write it – that’s just what happens. It’s how I write.

As yet untitled, I’m referring to it as either Dylan (being the central character) or Milkwood (being the place he lives). It’s essentially a re-write of the very first novel I ever attempted to write. A novel I never finished. You can read the original version of the story on StoriesOnline where it’s called The College by the Sea. It ends rather abruptly though so be warned.

But don’t be fooled. Just like Eternally & Evermore was intended as a re-write of Reunion and turned out to be very, very different, I have already made changes to the planned plot and some of the characters that will mean this new book will be just as different from the original attempt as E&E is from Reunion.

The central character retains the same name – Dylan Thomas. And yes, that is deliberate. As is the fact he is from Swansea and that he is living in a university hall of residence called Milkwood. But his character and history will be altered.

We join Dylan as he arrives at Westmouth University as a fresher (or freshman, if you’re American) and settles into to his new home. I think this may prove to be a very ambitious story. The cast of characters will be the largest I have dealt with to this point and probably ever will deal with. And some of the characters will be the most complex and difficult to ‘get right’ that I’ve attempted – which is saying something given the fine lines I’ve had to walk with the likes of The Colonel from Lost & Found, Chloe from Kissed by a Rose and Amy from Eternally & Evermore.

At the start of the book, Dylan will have his heart broken by his girlfriend – who is attending a different university and dumps him by SMS message. The rest of the plot will be about Dylan’s search for the person who can put his heart back together – not realising until he’s about to lose her that he was looking in all the wrong places and she was actually there all along.

Maybe that could be a title – Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places.

I don’t know. Bit long. We’ll see.

This is all very cryptic right now because I’m loathe to give too much away too soon. I’m already seven chapters and ten thousand words into the story, so it’s going well. One thing I will say is that this story is set two years after the events of Kissed by a Rose and it could well be that Chloe Goodman, who’ll be in her final year at the university, could make a guest appearance at some point. At least, that’s the plan.