A new idea is slowly awakening. Slowly revealing itself to me. Piece by tiny piece.
And I desperately hope that I can gather up all these beautiful pieces and weave them together to make what I can see in the confines of my mind and feel deep within the chambers of my heart come alive on the page. Time will tell, I suppose. But for now, I am a listener and a receiver, a ponderer and wonderer, a hunter and gatherer.
This is what I gathered today. And yes, I think I am gathering a love story.
With my YA manuscript complete and with my publisher awaiting verdict, I have had a small and much needed break from writing, but now I know it is time to get on to the next novel.
And here lies my dilemma. I have been promising myself (and some of my readers) that the next novel I write will be a sequel to Get a Grip, Cooper Jones (You're an Idiot, Cooper Jones). I have worked out the structure of the novel (which I am excited about), know the basic plot and themes, have several pages of notes and ideas and a strong opening scene. I love writing from Cooper's perspective and am keen to delve back into his world at Wangaroo Bay. I am poised to go. But ...
Another idea has come to me. It is still rather nebulous, but tantalising nonetheless. All I really have is a title: The Awful Truth. A couple of opening lines, and the beginnings of a playlist that seems to capture the mood of the idea that is keeping me awake at night.
What should I do? Which book should I write?
Here is the first song on the playlist. Fix You, Coldplay.
"Frankie stared as usual at the painting hanging beside Ma's bed. It was dark and a little menacing and not at all the kind of picture Frankie would want to look at as he went to sleep, but Ma was devoted to it. A ghostly woman with long yellow hair stood, waiting, beside a four-poster bed hung with draperies. The brushwork was so fine you could make out each strand of the woman's hair and the strain on her knuckles."
From The 10 pm Question, Kate de Goldi, p 33
Evocative writing that shows so much about Frankie in a beautifully subtle way.
