Winter has been a good time to get focused on the writing of the sixth book in the Siege of New Hampshire series. Fewer outdoor chores and distractions. Now, I have something to share with you.
A semi-organized process
I’m not one of those writers for whom the whole story just pops out of their heads, fully formed, like Athena from Zeus’s head. Nor can I just start writing and let the “story write itself.” That doesn’t work for me. I start out some broad-brush ideas, but it takes some thinking time get the ideas shaped into a coherent story. I usually create an outline, starting with major points that need to happen. The outline then gets filled in with the necessary dots to get from A to B.
While I do use an outline, I don’t get too slavishly attached to it. Often enough, when doing the actual writing, there can be a little bit of the “story writing itself.” The characters often take on a bit of a life of their own. Sometimes that life suggests additions or deviations. Occasionally, I go with it. If I do, I usually have to go back into the prior chapters to weave in the necessary context and foreshadowing so the deviation isn’t a total non sequitur.
The Caveat
All this is to say that this draft of Chapter 1 will probably be pretty close to the final version, aside from grammatical fixes, but the contents could get reworked if some later chapter needs it.
The Setup
My working title for Book Six is: The Summer of Wood & Iron. It picks up where book five left off, more or less. Now, it is summer in Cheshire. Life is less chaotic, with hostile elements having played themselves out, for the most part, over the winter and spring. While less chaotic, life for the Simmons household is very busy, as this is the growing season and crucial to being better prepared for the next winter: a growing season without the benefit of industrialized farming. The work is hard and the pressure to succeed is great.
With all that said, the next post will be the first draft of Chapter 1. Even though it’s just a first chapter, feel free let me know what you think, if you have thoughts on it.