Kumiko novel - weird weekend of work - rewrite rewrite rewrite

hmm,

I don't think I've ever felt compelled to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite the start of a novel more than I've rewritten the start of Kumiko (war world #3).

I wondered, at first, if I hadn't started this novel a little too early; like I hadn't left enough time since the publication of the last one. But then I always think that. I always worry that I haven't given a novel enough time to percolate in the noggin before giving it the benefit of doc'ing.

I mean, it's been a good cathartic exercise in patience vs creativity. I've pushed myself in ways I wouldn't have thought possible. I've really stretched both the character and the scenario that (hopefully) leads to the rest of the book 'writing itself' as they often do. I'm also much happier with the level and intensity of War World revelations - I have to remember to 'slow burner' this third book. Don't reveal all just yet, keep some revelations back for the finales of act two and three. It's coming out at about four A4 10-point pages per chapter i.e. 4,000+ words per chapter.

Kumiko (war world #3) is currently only at 24,000 words but it's not all chapter content. I'm barely on chapter four. Most of what will become the novel is still notes. There are lots of notes. Many of which will be jettisoned during the write-up, editing, repolishing phase. I'm not doing this for you, dear sweet hapless mass-market reader. I'm not engineering the start of this novel so that you'll find it easier to understand. I'm doing it so that the victims receive the punishment they deserve from the despots of War World. I'm doing it so that IT'S DONE RIGHT.

I haven't added much in the way of new brand paragraphs or acres of text but it must be at least twenty or thirty times that I've restarted, rewritten, added to, taken away from, amended, deleted, rejigged, retitled, tidied old ideas into new narrative form, moved chapters around, moved paragraph groupings around, increased allegiances, hidden secrets for later revelation, remotivated the start of this book etc. in the last week... it's been a proper job of writing. Hard slog. Man work. I think I have it, now, the right mix of honesty and sleight of hand.


A FEW DAYS LATER UPDATE: okay, I now have the first four chapters of Kumiko (word total 18,000) and the rest of the document so far is another 7,000 words of notes to finish this third novel. I like where this book is going. Why? Because I don't have control over it. Not really. I'm mostly riding the wild waves of this story. And it really is a wild, wild story.