SHIT/SHINOLA TIME

Today I finished The Demi-Monde: Summer, the third of the four Demi-Monde books.

It's been difficult. The task I had was to take multiple storylines which come together in one denouement but which had to remain interesting and entertaining whilst they were en route to the climax. And this has been bloody tricky as it involves bouncing the reader around between characters and situations. Originally I had planned to have three separate stories and a ending, but I finally reverted to telling the tale chronologically and trusting to the reader's patience. We'll see what Quercus says.

Length-wise it's weighed in at just north of 154,000 which is bang on target. I'm also pleased with some of the new characters especially Fresh Bloom Dong E, ImperialNoN Mao ZeDong and PhilosopherNoN Xi Kang.

Right now I've read the book so many times that I can't judge whether it's good bad or indifferent: the old Shit from Shinola conundrum. Anyway I'm now handing it over to Nelli who will do a quick pre-submission proof-reading with the aim of sending it off to John Jarrold at the end of January.

So I've managed to clear the decks ready to edit Book 2, The Demi-Monde: Spring, before heading to NoirVille for the final book.