Last night I had an idea for another Jack the Viking book, the third in what would then be a trilogy. There is however a difficulty. I would need to go to Norway to do some research. Hmmm. I do not currently possess enough funds for a trip to Norway. Could I fudge it and make my trip to Wellington do instead? Perhaps not. Maybe Dannevirke.
I really like the new idea. It will have to get in line and take a number to get its chance to be written as I seem to have about a million things on the go at the moment. A little bit of stewing will make for a better story though so I'm happy to let it sit for awhile. A trilogy has such a lovely sense of completeness about it, don't you think? And Jack has some more growing up to do. And he's a nice kid to hang out with. But investing time in him may not pay off in the long run; not in the dollar sense anyway. However some stories just don't care about such things. They couldn't give a rats bottom about what havoc they play on the writers solvency. They hang around in your brain refusing to disappear, quietly insisting on existing. A trip to Norway would be a blast. Stranger things have happened...
7 comments:
Maybe yuo should apply for a grant! Sounds exciting
A few years ago I was writing in the depths of a freezing winter a novel set in french polynesia and moaning to my multi published mother in law about how I so wanted to go there...where it was warm...and my mother in law sent me back a one word email
internet
and I did find that people post all sorts of things on the internet...(a grant would have been nicer but we have to be realistic...after all we are only children's writers....)
so I sympathise/empathise....feel for you...coz I want to go to the islands and get warm......
maureen
Hey
I've just seen that The Were Nana is a finalist in the book design awards...Well done!
What about the Antartica fellowship? It's certainly cold enough.....
Banquo's Son is set in 11th Scotland. I've never even been to Europe but, apparently living in Dunedin is as close as it gets to Scottish weather. Research and reading helped me to fill in the little bits (I have a brother-in-law who's expert in Scottish church history - very useful!).
As to the trilogy, I had no idea that Banquo's Son was going to become one. I had the complete story for the novel but, after so many words (120,000) and so much left unfinished, I realised it would need another two novels to really complete the epic tale.
Though the first one is out in Sept, and I am chipping away at the second, I'm nervous I haven't got the stamina to set it through to the end.
Hi Folks - my dreams say apply for a grant and my reality says read books and look on the internet. I don't think too many grants give money to swan off on overseas jaunts - how do people afford it?
Tania - research provided enough info for Norway a thousand years ago for Jack the Viking and the follow up novel (aided by the fact that there is still a lot not known about the period) but for the third book I want to set some of it in contemporary Norway. I am heartened by the current TV advert comparing images of Sweden with images of NZ which could be interchangeable. But it would be so much easier to get something wrong with a modern setting.
I had no plans for a second book when i started the first, and no plans for a third one when I started the second but Jack is such a demanding boy and he refuses to go away. Should I be worried that a figment of my imagination is exerting such control?
I am sure when the second book is finished the third one will step up. And aren't nerves a normal part of the process? I cannot wait to read Banquo's Son. I have my fingers crossed that you score a great publishing deal in the US.
Jack might be a demanding boy but he's real (to me too and I'm just the reader!) I once emailed a friend and confessed I was hopelessly in love with a figment of my imagination (Fleance). I'm 43 and he's 21 and utterly delicious. My friend said that this was the perfect love to have: you don't get caught, you can't catch anything and the marriage stays in tact! *grin*.
Today, in our school corridor, I put up a poster advertising the book. During every period break and interval girls are clustered around it talking. Never hurts to have a hunky bloke to sell a product.
With J the V, you could just keep going like Jack Lasenby does with Aunt Effie.
Now, back to the marking (and yes, fingers crossed about New York!)
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