An indie author’s regular spoiler-free update on his writing, editing, cover design, marketing, publishing, website maintenance, and blogging. Issue 96.
This week in one word: focussed.
my_writing_week
Previously on WWW…
For the week ahead, I have two top priorities – the cover for The Spike 1.1_Application_Infiltration and revisions to The Spike Volume 2 – but as both of those require a good chunk of time to work on properly, I’ll continue writing my publication blogpost series when I have shorter opportunities.
Unusually for me, I didn’t split my attention over several different tasks this week.
The vast majority of my writing time was spent on revisions to The Spike Volume 2.
I’d got to the point where I was working down my list of remaining story changes for part 3, and most were relatively small. I was able to move through them quite quickly, partly by not actioning all of them.
Some of the items on my list I decided to save for Volume 3 – there’s already so much happening in what is a short period of time after Volume 1, it made sense to push some of them back. Plus, some of the story points are more relevant to the theme of Volume 3.
A few of the revisions I’d listed I decided against using. The reasons varied: sometimes they had become unnecessary because of something else; sometimes they wouldn’t have added much; sometimes they would have caused too many other problems.
The biggest changes I made this week were from a new idea: to bring back a character from Volume 1 for one scene. The character arrives unexpectedly, causes some stress, leaves something behind, then goes again, and the repercussions meant further changes to three later scenes. I think it works really well and, for such a small appearance, makes a big difference to the story.
I have two revision items left to do for part 3. One of them I’m unsure about and I may ditch it. I’m definitely going to include the other, which requires multiple small changes across several chapters.
Once those are done, I’ll go back to part 2. There are three (maybe four) revisions I want to make, of varying complexity. Then I’ll revisit the epilogue, which will need a heavy rewrite with the changes I want to make.
When I realised I was getting close to the end of the Volume 2 revisions, I decided I should begin writing the recap of The Spike Volume 1 that I’ll include in Volume 2. Once I’ve finished the Volume 2 revisions and put it aside for a few weeks, so I can come back to it with fresh eyes, I’ll want to read it through including the Volume 1 recap, to see how it all flows together. That means I’ll need the same mental distance to the recap, which means finishing everything at about the same time.
I’m about a quarter of the way through. It’s tricky to condense a whole book down into a few pages, and I’m sure there’ll be a few passes to add/remove parts that are/aren’t necessary, and to make it more concise.
The only other task I worked on this week (other than this WWW) was my review of Neuromancer by William Gibson, which I finished reading yesterday. See my weekly_inspiration below for more on that.
I didn’t touch my publication blogpost series or the cover for The Spike 1.1_Application_Infiltration this week. They can wait for the gap after I’ve finished the Volume 2 revisions.
For the eleventh week in a row, I’ve reached at least 50/50 for my creativity vs consumption by hitting 52%. Long may the streak continue.
Next week, my review of Neuromancer by William Gibson is scheduled to go live on Monday. I should also finish reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak so will write my review of that, although it may not go live until the following week.
Otherwise, my top two priorities for the coming seven days are the recap of The Spike Volume 1 and The Spike Volume 2 revisions. I’m hoping to finish both so I can start my time off from the day job the following week by doing something different. Maybe outlining Volume 3…
Reading this week: Neuromancer by William Gibson and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Watching this week: Peaky Blinders season 4 (rewatch) and Colin from Accounts season 3
Playing this week: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
status_report
In addition to the three short stories available to read for free here, there are three more yet to be published that make up The Spike Volume 0. One of the new three is ready to go; the other two require some final editing. I may submit the new three to journals or short story collections, but all will be published by Arrowmaker Books some time before Volume 2 is published.
I’m working on a new cover design for a second edition of The Spike Volume 1.
I’m also working on covers for the two individual parts, 1.1_Application_Infiltration and 1.2_Laying_Down_The_Law, which are going to be published separately for the first time. Both have a similar style and layout.
Draft 3 is under way for The Spike Volume 2!
Volume 2 is my biggest and most complex project to date, containing three separate books from the perspectives of seven characters.
The aim is to finish Volume 2 in 2026.
Early brainstorming has been done for The Spike Volume 3. I know how it must begin; I have an ending that I think will be great; and I have a long list of ideas (that keeps growing) to get from one to the other that needs to be whittled down and put in an order. I’m not intending to do much more work on this until revision is complete on Volume 2.
I have shelved Project Lawless Fang for the time being. It’s unrelated to The Spike series (at least for now).
weekly_inspiration
Every week I share something that’s inspired my creativity.
This week, I finished reading Neuromancer by William Gibson, one of the originators of cyberpunk. Whilst it isn’t one of my favourite books, mostly due to a its writing style, there were some great ideas. The worldbuilding was impressive and stylistically unique, especially for the time it was published.
My full review is scheduled to go live on Monday.
What’s inspired you this week? Please share in the comments.
See you next week.
