Sunday 21 February 2016

My Next Writing Challenge

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've just been sucked into my latest novel, Emergency Transmission, the fourth in my Toxic World series of post-apocalyptic novels. Every time I do a novel, I always set up some sort of challenge, something I haven't done before. Once it was writing from the point of view of a child, another time from a Hispanic woman, once I wrote suspense rather than my usual full-on action. Each book is a bit different, because that makes the writing more interesting.
When I start a novel, I have a general idea of the characters and a fairly clear idea of the ending. The fun is figuring out how to write to that ending. Sometimes the ending changes; usually it doesn't. For Emergency Transmission, I've thought up a great ending, one that fits perfectly with where I want to take the series. The only problem is, I have absolutely no idea how to get there. It doesn't seem possible to get from where I am to where I need to be.
I guess I've found my challenge for this book!

1 comment:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

You'll figure it out. Work backwards. I always know my endings first and then work backwards to get to the beginning.

Looking for more from Sean McLachlan? He also hangs out on the Civil War Horror blog, where he focuses on Civil War and Wild West history.

You can also find him on his Twitter feed and Facebook page.