Had a few odd searches for “E L James” or “E D James” author ending up here this week (including one “auther”). Just to be clear, I am not E L James, author of the “mommy porn” Fifty Shades trilogy, even though there’s one letter separating eljamesauthor.com from edjamesauthor.com.
Anyway, thought I’d give an update from last week about what is going on with me and my world just now. I posted last week saying that I was picking FUTURE SHOCK up again to dust off and release. Well, I’m not. I love the concept and the idea, but the execution is not my finest hour. There are two schools to writing – 1) start writing and see where the characters take you and 2) meticulously plan it out. I am of the second school, and this was written from the first. If I ever need to remind myself why I need the weeks of planning then that is a solid reminder. I will dust it off in the future and do it properly.
What I have been doing is working on DEVIL IN THE DETAIL, the sequel to GHOST IN THE MACHINE. I wrote the story about 18 months ago as a sequel novella. Now I’ve picked it up and looked at it, it’s so much more. There are ideas that are sketched in, whole strands of police investigation and plot complication that haven’t been added. It’s a strong story which can carry the weight of a full novel. So, I’m at the planning stage, going through my copious notes and revisions and battering out a revised plot. It’s turning out to be a good exercise in how I should write – get the loose skeleton written and then expand it. It gives the best of school 2, but also adds in the fun and innovation of school 1. Anyway, I hope to get properly writing it this week – got a five hour train trip back from London on Friday that would be good to fill up with Scott Cullen’s world.
Sales going well, too – strangely, over a quarter are from the US. Hopefully they’re actually people looking for Edinburgh-based police procedural rather than sadomasochistic erotica.
— Ed