“Mistaken Identity” – The Final Editor’s Draft- Day 4

This book has finally reached the Final Editor’s draft, so this month it is going to get the last revision, and a reread for the beta readers.

The writing proceeds at a steady rate because the ideas are there. There’s planning, but not too far into the future because, like any relationship, the one between the current two main characters must develop, or die.

I was waiting to see where their interaction takes us.

But then, our main character now must confront the notion he had a doppelganger, and not only that but he is also a criminal who just murdered someone, and his face is all over the television.

And this is an exact double as if he had a twin brother.

The thing is, as far as he’s aware, he’s an only child.

But, there’s a knock on the door, and things are about to get very hectic…

More tomorrow.

“Mistaken Identity” – The Final Editor’s Draft- Day 3

This book has finally reached the Final Editor’s draft, so this month it is going to get the last revision, and a reread for the beta readers.

My writing effort for the two days, yesterday and today amounted to about 6,000 words, which by any stretch of the imagination is a good two days.

But, here’s the thing. I went over if briefly yesterday, and reworked about 2,000 words, and then today I looked at the rest.

Yesterday was a bad day for continuity, and I found myself beset with innumerable distractions. Being Good Friday probably had a lot to do with it.

Today, there were also distractions, but not as bad, and at least from the outset, I got to read the words from start to end.

And, yes, they needed a little work, and, yes, I realise we should not be editing, but writing.

Sorry, but not sorry. It had to be done, and now I feel better about it.

More tomorrow.

NANOWRIMO – April 2024 – “The One That Got Away” – Day 8

Howard Joffs

Howard is Agatha’s lawyer, but more than that, he is a friend and has been ever since they started university together.

He was fully aware of who she was, the title, the heritage, the expectations, and her need to rebel in her own way.

He watched her destroy a marriage that would have worked if she had let it, with a man who was, in the end, too good for her. 

And, along the way, Howard always thought one day she would wake up and see what was in front of her, the man who loved her.

The pity of it was she had sent him to the friend zone and did not think of him in that way, having discovered the truth one night when charged with a lot of alcohol, he told her how he felt.

She was not reviled, just amused.

It was then he realised there was only one man for her, the one she could never have, even though he knew she harboured a secret desire for them to get back together.  Only recently did he discover that man was the father of her children.

But despite his unrequited love, he still did anything and everything she asked, and more.

And would until the day she died.

Words today, 1,870, for a total of 14,415

“Mistaken Identity” – The Final Editor’s Draft- Day 2

This book has finally reached the Final Editor’s draft, so this month it is going to get the last revision, and a reread for the beta readers.

Writing proceeds apace and the next chapter seems to have gone on a bit longer than I wanted, but that was because I was having fun. The editor’s suggestions brought a whole new light to the story, with the two main characters being together, not exactly by choice, but as the result of circumstances.

I have also been making notes at the same time, of situations that will arise from their being together, and establishing the reasons behind a lot of what happens later.

I have also re-established the timeline with actions that stretch further into the story and wrote a few little sections at the same time because the story was almost writing itself, and in moments like those, I find it best to get it down on paper, no matter how roughly it turns out.

I am also doing a quick edit of this section of writing because it will be most likely two or three chapters, not just one.

More tomorrow.

“Mistaken Identity” – The Final Editor’s Draft- Day 3

This book has finally reached the Final Editor’s draft, so this month it is going to get the last revision, and a reread for the beta readers.

My writing effort for the two days, yesterday and today amounted to about 6,000 words, which by any stretch of the imagination is a good two days.

But, here’s the thing. I went over if briefly yesterday, and reworked about 2,000 words, and then today I looked at the rest.

Yesterday was a bad day for continuity, and I found myself beset with innumerable distractions. Being Good Friday probably had a lot to do with it.

Today, there were also distractions, but not as bad, and at least from the outset, I got to read the words from start to end.

And, yes, they needed a little work, and, yes, I realise we should not be editing, but writing.

Sorry, but not sorry. It had to be done, and now I feel better about it.

More tomorrow.

NANOWRIMO – April 2024 – “The One That Got Away” – Day 8

Howard Joffs

Howard is Agatha’s lawyer, but more than that, he is a friend and has been ever since they started university together.

He was fully aware of who she was, the title, the heritage, the expectations, and her need to rebel in her own way.

He watched her destroy a marriage that would have worked if she had let it, with a man who was, in the end, too good for her. 

And, along the way, Howard always thought one day she would wake up and see what was in front of her, the man who loved her.

The pity of it was she had sent him to the friend zone and did not think of him in that way, having discovered the truth one night when charged with a lot of alcohol, he told her how he felt.

She was not reviled, just amused.

It was then he realised there was only one man for her, the one she could never have, even though he knew she harboured a secret desire for them to get back together.  Only recently did he discover that man was the father of her children.

But despite his unrequited love, he still did anything and everything she asked, and more.

And would until the day she died.

Words today, 1,870, for a total of 14,415

“Mistaken Identity” – The Final Editor’s Draft- Day 3

This book has finally reached the Final Editor’s draft, so this month it is going to get the last revision, and a reread for the beta readers.

My writing effort for the two days, yesterday and today amounted to about 6,000 words, which by any stretch of the imagination is a good two days.

But, here’s the thing. I went over if briefly yesterday, and reworked about 2,000 words, and then today I looked at the rest.

Yesterday was a bad day for continuity, and I found myself beset with innumerable distractions. Being Good Friday probably had a lot to do with it.

Today, there were also distractions, but not as bad, and at least from the outset, I got to read the words from start to end.

And, yes, they needed a little work, and, yes, I realise we should not be editing, but writing.

Sorry, but not sorry. It had to be done, and now I feel better about it.

More tomorrow.

“Mistaken Identity” – The Final Editor’s Draft- Day 2

This book has finally reached the Final Editor’s draft, so this month it is going to get the last revision, and a reread for the beta readers.

Writing proceeds apace and the next chapter seems to have gone on a bit longer than I wanted, but that was because I was having fun. The editor’s suggestions brought a whole new light to the story, with the two main characters being together, not exactly by choice, but as the result of circumstances.

I have also been making notes at the same time, of situations that will arise from their being together, and establishing the reasons behind a lot of what happens later.

I have also re-established the timeline with actions that stretch further into the story and wrote a few little sections at the same time because the story was almost writing itself, and in moments like those, I find it best to get it down on paper, no matter how roughly it turns out.

I am also doing a quick edit of this section of writing because it will be most likely two or three chapters, not just one.

More tomorrow.

NANOWRIMO – April 2024 – “The One That Got Away” – Day 7

The reporter

Winifred, daughter of Adria, is the contradiction.

She always had no intention of playing on her title, and she always regarded people addressing her as Lady Winifred with suspicion.

She also never wanted to use her name to open doors or get an advantage.  She went to university, and soon realised her calling was the written word and a talent for getting to the truth of the matter.

She honed her journalistic skills in the university newspaper and had the distinction of solving a rather convoluted death that was first believed to be a suicide as a murder, one the murderer would have got away with if she hadn’t tenaciously pursued it.

Those detective skills stood her in good stead, getting her a job at a major newspaper, except the editor didn’t believe she was up to the task, her society and aristocratic background getting in the way.

She has a point to prove, and this latest move by her mother’s organisation as good as any for what might be a good story.

And, in the back of her mind, something she had overheard when researching another story stuck, that involved the General, and it wasn’t good.

Of course, her mother knows Winnie is like a dog with a bone and warns her, ‘There’s nothing to see here’.

Winnie isn’t so sure…

Words today, 1,529, for a total of 12,545

NANOWRIMO – April 2024 – “The One That Got Away” – Day 5

What are friends for?

Well, when they too have the rug pulled out from under them, how much can they do?

Her best friend and fellow founding member of the charity, recently but no longer CEO, due to the new Chairman who had taken over during our main character’s incapacity, had been visiting her friend in hospital and relating the day-to-day events that had turned the running of their organisation into what she calls a circus

I’m going to give her a daughter who is a tenacious reporter and set her on the trail of a conspiracy, that of the so-called benevolent charities and the shady characters that manage to attach themselves to what she will call the charitable gravy train.

She also is the product of that echelon of people who are upper-class nobility, having resented from a young age being called Lady So and So, going to the privileged schools and being treated differently.

She is the rebel against her birthright, her parents, and everything they stand for.

And yet, as she gets older and sees the worth of those connections, those she had so willingly trashed for the sake of getting an editor to take her seriously, it’s going to be a tricky line she will have to walk if she is going to help her mother.

Perhaps her parents were not the monsters she believed they were.

Words today, 1785, for a total of 8946