A HARD DAY AT THE TYPEFACE

I staggered to the end of the third Demi-Monde book 'Summer' yesterday but I wasn't as elated as I thought I'd be and the reason was simple: it ain't good enough.

It's 154,000 words of OK and I hate OK. And what's worse is some of the plot moves seem very contrived which I HATE. Plot twists and turns have got to seem natural and organic otherwise they jar and the reader loses faith in the writer and the world he or she is trying to create

So I started back at square one on the Prologue and began re-reading. It wasn't long before I hit problems: the opening chapter is one which combines a lot of exposition with a set-up for the rest of the book. I find this sort of stuff very difficult to write - it always comes out too long and ponderous and boring - so I decided to remodel. I worked on that one chapter - five pages, a couple of thousand words - all f*****g day. Six re-edits.

I think it's better now but it still ain't right - or should that be write - so I'll have another go today. The one thing that's come out of it is that I can cull a character. I had had to introduce him to move the plot forward but he was always an awkward fit and now he can be deleted. Unfortunately that'll involve even more re-writes.

I suppose that's progress but...