Still writing in fits and starts. Today, I had to force myself to sit down at the computer and work. Instead of writing anything new, however, I performed the very necessary task of conducting a hard, thorough edit of the entire third section (the Trial) of the novel. It's a worthwhile endeavour for two reasons: first, it gives me a chance to focus on shoring up the tone of the book and, second, it allows me to make progress on the novel even though I'm not ready to write new material.

I like the trial scene. I think it flows well, has decent levels of tension and drama, and feels right. That's all good.

Now comes the challenge of writing the turn: when Gold makes a key discovery and uses it to turn the case around. I'm not sure it will be easy to write. I'll try to take a crack at it this weekend.

Not helping me is the fact that I have started rewriting Gold's entire personal history in the back of my mind. It wasn't a conscious decision on my part; it just started happening out of the blue the other day. And now I think there might be a new novel in the revised backstory, an interesting tale featuring a eight-year-old Phillip Gold as the protagonist. Its development, however, means I will have to go back through all the Gold stories I've written so far and adjust them to match the character's new personal history. Ugh.

Not fun. But necessary. And a lot more work for me.

Tags: Phillip Gold