My Magnificent Octopus Part VII

I finally picked up the quill, the first time since I crossed the pond, and decided to get back into the writing game. It was quite a fun process.

Ok, as you read this, I'm just going to sound big headed. I apologise now, saves me doing it fifty times along the way. I know I'm not a published writer, I also know the chances of this book ever getting into print is roughly the same odds as winning the Saturday lottery the day after scooping the EuroMillions, so bear with me if I 'sound' cocky. I don't mean to.

As mentioned, I haven't picked up the novel for seveal weeks. If I'm honest, it could even be stretching towards more than two months. As regular readers will know I've had a lot on my plate of late, so getting my lame murder mystery finished was right at the bottom of my list of 'things to do'. It was Saturday that I slapped myself in the face and decided to pick up the memory stick. (The signs of a modern generation eh? Any other author would pick up a pen and the manuscript. I have to hunt out a memory stick!)...

...but where was I up to? I knew in my head roughly where the plot had got to, but I was also aware that my brain had the next few sections of the storyline drafted. As it was the first time back in front of the keyboard for quite a while I decided to read what was already written right from page one...

...and do you know what? I actually found it enjoyable. Yes of course I'm bias, but I'm also my own worse critic. Even though I knew the story off by heart, I still found myself smiling and laughing at certain phrases I'd used (phrases I didn't even remember coming up with). Not laughing 'at' it, but laughing 'with' it. It was a bloody good read.

Granted, I could instantly see where I had skimmed too fast over certain plot points, and where other sections needed more detail, but I have admitted that from day one. My initial aim is to get to the final page with a complete story written, and then go back to turn the story into a full blown novel. The two central characters almost feel 'real' too, something I was paranoid I'd find hard to do. I was always scared I'd make them too 'two-dimensional' but I've noticed it only takes a single sentence, or sometimes even just a few words to conjure up images in your head, and let the reader create their own back story.

I suppose it helps that DCI Morgen is basically me disguised as an ageing policeman, but his assistant, DS Krake is certainly not me, and I can't think off anyone off hand that he is directly based on.

Anyway, we're 120 pages in, three murders down, and Morgen has just held a press conference to reassure the general public that he's about to catch the killer. Of course this sets it all up nicely for the depression I've talked about previously. Little does Morgen know that murder number 4 has already happened whilst the press conference is in progress. A bit like Columbo though, the reader already knows this, and I'm trying to get across the idea that you (as an innocent reader) want to help Morgen. You want to be in that press conference telling him to shut up and stop making promises about 'no more deaths'....

...but you'll have to wait till it's finished to find out if he fights his way out of the depression or not! :)