As of right this second, I have written a total of 77,958 words of my next novel, Alabama Skye. According to all of the guidelines I've seen, the average work of literary fiction is about 80,000 - 100,000 words. I'm not really too worried about those 'rules'. I'll write until the story is finished and that's how long it will be...but I do use those numbers as sort of a reference. I have yet to write the ending. I know what it will be...but sometimes my characters surprise me. (Okay, they surprise me a lot.) I'll have a general idea but then they usually step up and fill in the details. Things wind up on the finished page that were never planned. I love it. They steer the ship. I just try to keep us all moving forward and find wind to fill our sails until our tale has been told.
I wanted to share some photos with you. This is the city of Portree, where the character Cheney is from. It's on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It's the capital city and a very busy port. I love all the colored houses and businesses in this shot.
This picture is of the Isle of Skye.
I'm on the internet a lot. I actually love the researching part for my novels. Sometimes I find things at random, but most of the time I actively look for them. I came across this picture quite by accident some time last year. I couldn't believe how perfect this fit my mental of image of my character, Greer.
I've looked for photos, (the above is actually a painting) that depict who I see when I write Noah, Jimmy and Cheney, but so far I haven't found anything. I'll keep looking.
One more...and she's important! Here's Georgette. I don't believe you've been introduced to Georgie yet. She's the book store 'cat'. She's actually a very charismatic French bulldog. And here she is...
Now if she alone doesn't make you want to read Alabama Skye, I don't know what will.
If you haven't read the first two chapters, you can find a link to them here on this blog. Look to the left under Pages and click. Don't forget that I posted these a while ago. I am always editing and changing so the final version may not be what you see here. Leave me a note...give me some feedback. I'd love to hear what you think.
I've also launched a new website. You can find out more about Alabama Skye and about my upcoming series, written under the pen name of Leigh Scott, called The Goddess of Tornado Alley. You can also purchase a copy of my first novel, The Color of Thunder from there as well.
My goal is to have this book written by the end of April and to my beta-readers. If all goes well, it will be turned into my publisher sometime in May. Fingers crossed. I'm excited about this one. I can't wait to have it out there so you can read it in its entirety.
http://jcwing.wix.com/jcwing
Happy Sunday, everyone!
