As I sit down to write this, the end of April is fast approaching. It’s not quite here yet; I still have about three days to go. By the time you read this, you’ll either be on the second last day of April (give or take time differences), or you’ll be reading this somewhat later, but that’s neither here nor there. I have spent April taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo, a National Novel Writing Month event.
Much like NaNoWriMo proper, Camp NaNoWriMo’s goal is to write 50,000 words. Unlike the November event, however, Camp NaNoWriMo lets you write anything, and it counts towards the goal. So, as I’m writing this post in April, it also counts towards my goal. But again, that’s neither here nor there. My focus in April (and started at the tail end of March) was to rewrite the draft I wrote during NaNoWriMo.
That draft is called Luminary. The working title is actually far longer, but I won’t be getting into that just yet.
And that draft (the new one, which I’m calling Draft 1; I’ll just call the NaNoWriMo one Draft 0) currently stands at 76,338 words. It’s not a massive tome. It’s far shorter than that other manuscript it distracted me from, Till Death Do Us Party, which as at the last draft stands at 131,010 words. But, I have no doubt that it will grow. Probably not by much; if I were to make an estimate, I’d say the final product will end up at anywhere in the range of 80,000 to 90,000 words. I can probably expand upon every second chapter. The even-numbered ones, that is. The odd-numbered chapters are long enough.
It’s this distinction that has me excited about this book’s potential. A literary superhero story telling two concurrent stories. The first story, featured in those odd chapters, is a bombastic superhero story with balls to the wall action. Completely over the top, tongue-in-cheek fun that skewers superheroes while paying homage to the greats.
The even-numbered chapters, not so much. Those are where the “literary” comes in. This isn’t a deconstruction of superheroes as popularised by Alan Moore; it is a separate story, one that’s a little more sombre. Darker. How, I won’t say. Partially because of the surprise; mostly, at this stage, because I still haven’t entirely cracked it.
With a name like Luminary, this is a book that is going to have to see the light of day. When, I don’t know. It won’t be before Till Death Do Us Party, and it’s anyone’s guess as to how long after it will be.
But writing this draft has been a hell of a ride. And when it’s done, I expect it will be a hell of a ride for the reader, too.
TTFN,
wastanley.com 