Writing to Date

As of today, the first novel, Perceval, is complete.  It has been through more than 12 drafts, two ruthless line edits, and I’ve worked with an editor on it.

 I have completed recently the first draft of the second novel, Perceval’s Shadow.  I’ve put it away to ferment for a while.

I am now doing the prep work for the third novel, Perceval in Love, before I begin writing the first draft, which I expect to begin in the next week or so.  The prep work includes writing up my ideas in notes that I’ll consult and add to daily, writing a preliminary outline — my outlines are usually just skeletons of the narratives and evolve as I get into the actual writing — as well as character work.  Which characters, in addition to Evan, from the other books will be in this one?  Who are the new characters Evan will meet?  If there is a major new character, I will also write up his/her dossier to get to know him/her better.  I have found from past experience that this prep work opens up doors in my imagination that I didn’t know existed and will lead me into interesting rooms.  It also saves much time during the writing later on.

 While the focus of this blog is the Perceval novels, I also write short stories, essays, and screenplays, and may occasionally mention what’s new with this work.  For example, I’ve pulled an excerpt from Perceval to submit as a short story to literary magazines.  That’s almost ready to mail out.  I also have 2 essays and 2 short stories, each in various stages of development, that I’m writing.