Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Ready for one last pass...

I got to the end of another draft of The Alice '65, and it's printed up and ready for a final pass with my red pen. Then inputting and finally...feedback. I've got about a dozen people ready to read it and let me know their thoughts. Here's hoping I'm not so close to the story I've churned out a piece of crap.

I've adjusted the Chapter marks on a few points. Sometimes the book tells you when it's time to shift to a new one, and the A65 did that, throughout. And changing Adam's actions in the last couple of chapters helps, a lot. And I think I've spread both his background and Casey's through the story more, so it's not all one lump. Should make it an easier read.

I had another idea for the bit leading up to the final confrontation in the jet, so wound up with 66,500 words over 306 pages. Funny how my ideas tend to expand a story instead of shorten it. Once it's condensed down from double-space and put into book format, with title and table of contents and such, it'll probably be around 200 pages...maybe 210. That's still a nice average for a book.

I binge-watched Season 3 of Vera, to clear my head. Six hours worth. It wasn't available on Acorn so I sprang the $7 for it...and I really like it. The mysteries are just okay; it's the rapport between Vera Stanhope and her sergeant, Joe Ashworth, that makes the series work so well. Like mother and son. Nothing like that in the last 3 series, with Aiden...and I think it's all on the actors playing the roles. David Leon was accessible and somehow carried a deep background as Joe; Kenny Doughty doesn't have that depth or kind of silent openness.

Still...I'm thinking of buying the series on DVD.

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