Seventy-four thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six words. Not only is that the word count I deservedly received when my mum caught me colouring in the sofa as a child, but it’s also the word count of my first novel. The book is called The Murder of a Superhero and this blog post is going to give you a summary of what it’s all about. I’m hoping this creative output brings my mum a lot more joy.
Writing Takes A While
The novel really started to take shape at the beginning of 2017. One thousand words a day for nearly two months, and by the end of February I had sixty thousand words. Blood, sweat and tears, as the saying goes, were drenched over every sentence. The source of the sweat and tears? Writing so much there could be no turning back. The source of the blood? That remains concerning and unknown.
At that point, I thought I was finished. Completed a book? Yeh mate. I promptly did nothing with it for a year. 2018 began, and I had one of those internal panics. Rather than having never written a book, I had reached the finishing line and decided to call it a day. Apparently eighty percent of people have aspirations of writing a book and never do. The terror of being one of them haunted me.
The year began, and I rallied myself up to work on a second draft of the book. Once again the writing process proved wonderful, horrible, fulfilling and soul-crushing all at the same time. The first attempt was severely lacking, and I often felt I was rewriting the whole thing from scratch. I scorned and swore at the past version of myself for ever thinking that the book was an acceptable standard. Not only does my past self deserve a massive slap, but I guarantee being slapped across the face would be more enjoyable than editing your own work.
Eventually I bullied the novel into something acceptable and since August it has once again sat untouched. A thousand-yard stare I haven’t quite roused myself up for another round of editing. That’s a common theme, but the logic of finishing a piece of work and letting it sit is well established. Stephen King said it in his fantastic book On Writing, so it must be right. My need to binge watch the entirety of Sons of Anarchy on Netflix was a secondary factor.
So I guess your next question is what can be worth so much effort and trouble? On a Wednesday night in Leeds I co-host a writing group and it’s the most common question I’m asked. You would think I’d be better practiced describing it for people (I’m not).
The Elevator Pitch
British Superhero Jake Fitzgerald is stabbed to death in a London back street. The world’s savior for over a decade, the killing is brutal, bloody and was meant to to be impossible. Three characters deal with the aftermath:
- Juliet Reynolds- A British Intelligence agent tasked with uncovering the truth surrounding the murder. The more she uncovers, the more she begins to question who Jake Fitzgerald really was.
- George Eden- In the form of a political memoir. The Prime Minister at the time of the murder recounts life before Jake, his heroism, and the change in society after the murder.
- Mike Fitzgerald- Jake’s estranged father reminisces about his son’s childhood, his mistakes as a father, and how his son went from humble Northern beginnings to a Superhero.
As bite size as possible, the above pitch is the synopsis for my first book. Three character perspectives, three writing styles, their stories intertwined and at points overlapping with each other. Still with me? Good. The question that usually follows is related to motivation. Where did I draw my ideas from?
My Motivation
Motivation or what on earth drives somebody to take up writing as a hobby is a hard thing to describe? Writing is a solitary pass time and leads to pages of dead dreams sat on hard-drives the world over.
In my case I’m a big believer in people having a purpose, goal or task that they can focus on outside of work and family life. After a testing day, I often find that escaping into a creative or physical outlet tends to be a good cure. I’m a member of a gym right over the road from work and can go lift some weights to unwind. Equally, I can withdraw into my own space to read, enjoying the stories other people have created, or maybe try to invent my own.
If I had to pin down why writing works so well for me is that I enjoy the process. There’s something fulfilling about taking what is essentially a blank page, crafting characters and plots, to eventually pull something together. Weeks, months, and in my case a year can go by before I touch that world again where I can pull it apart, rebuild and improve. At that point, I have a pure slice of creation made entirely off my own back.
Success with my writing is to one day be sat in my own house, a book on the shelf, my name on the spine and my words inked on the pages. Money, fame or sales aren’t a big driver for me. Having a creative outlet I can escape into and the satisfaction of a finished product are. The process also causes a lot less upset than colouring in pieces of furniture.
The idea
The idea for The Murder of a Superhero is hard to pin down after so many years stirring in my head. A few years ago I wrote thirty thousand words of a story resembling parts of this one. In the end, none of this first attempt was used as I started from scratch with the story in its current form. I liked the idea of telling the story from different points of view that were never the primary antagonist. Without it being a spoiler, as the title of the book gives a lot of the game away, the character of Jake Fitzgerald is dead from the very beginning of the book. There’s no resurrection, no comeback, and no flashback chapters. I wanted the story to revolve around Jake, but it is three other characters that the narrative belongs to.
Being a big fan of superheros the added layer of creating a story in an established genre brought a challenge to the mix. With superheros there are a number of tropes from the characters being orphans, having super villain enemies and secret identities. Jake Fitzgerald escapes these tropes. One of the characters is his own father and the relationship between the two explored in depth. The story is one grounded in what would happen if a person with super abilities was born in modern Britain. How would society react? What level of influence could such a person truly have? What would happen once they were gone? Themes of class, background, nationality and politics are explored in macro and micro detail as the pages go by. Hopefully that at least sounds at least remotely interesting to all you blog readers out there. If not, you have my permission to keep that to yourself.
Next Steps
The place to end this blog post, effectively a documentation of where I’m at, is what the next steps are. The plan I have in my head is that I need to tidy it up and make some changes. Armed with coffee and a highlighter, it will be tough going. After that, I have to admit self publishing interests me more than traditional outlets. I like the idea of doing it all myself and having a level of control over the process. That’ll sound odd to some, to not even try to find a publisher, but that’s never been my motivation. To illustrate, I’ll leave you with a quote from the far more talented writer Stephen King. “Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.” In my case, it’s having something to one day grab from my own bookshelf and take a bit of pride in. I also owe my mum something in return for a new sofa.
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