Song of the Elves

This is going to sound like a terrible cliche, but writing a book really is a journey.  You begin with the idea, start to flesh out a few plot lines and tentatively begin to put the meat on the bones.  Before you know it you are writing, forging ahead with imperfect passages but getting the tale down nonetheless.

Eventually, after two years of hard slog, cramming in hours after work, you have a book.  And that’s just the beginning.

Then begins the endless agonising over what you’ve created, the tough decisions over what to chop and what to keep; the scrutiny of words and seeking of alternatives.

After an eternity you get to the stage where you can see the end in sight.  The book has taken shape, all the ingredients are in place, but it just doesn’t feel right.  This is when the real work begins; the decisions that will make or break the narrative, create a flow or engineer a stuttering mess. 

I feel I passed the last point a long time ago, and having the paperback proof of A Shadow Falls finally in my hands after three years of work feels like a major achievement. And yet there is more to be done.

I know from your feedback that I’m in the right ball park, but still there is some tweaking and pruning to carry out.  The odd word here, the occasional passage there – final changes to make the product as good as I can make it.

Perfection will never be achieved, but I will keep going until A Shadow Falls can be delivered to you as I imagined it to be.  My favourite books as a kid were the ones that I read without really noticing the individual words;  the stories just flowed and surged to heart stopping, pulse pounding conclusions – Bradbury, Brooks, Heinlein, Chandler. 

You don’t have to be one of the greats to strive to deliver your best.  In short, I guess what I am saying to my dear readers who have offered such support, is bear with me a little while longer while I make Book One of the Song of the Elves the best that I can make it.

It won’t be long now and I think you will like the results.  Thank you for your patience.

Up the Elves!

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This entry was posted by David Shepherd on Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 7:53 pm and is filed under Song of the Elves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.