When Justice Comes Calling Update / What's Next?

Hey there.

I'm abstaining from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, basically any form of social media for the foreseeable future (primarily because they are all horrible distractions to yours truly) to focus on other things, but I figured I'd leave this update for anybody interested in my writing and how it's going. 

It's currently 6 o'clock on Saturday 7th June 2014 and I'm feeling pretty unwell. That being said, I've planned to set up a Blogger account for the longest time to really compile any thoughts, ideas and my personal feelings towards my writing. I decided that I may as well take five minutes out of my time to set this up and in the process, give a brief update on how my writing is going.

I actually began work on "When Justice Comes Calling" around a year ago in June 2013, but after reaching a certain point in the story I decided to put it to one side and instead focus on a couple of short stories in the meantime. The effort and passion to write a fully-fledged novel is something I kind of overestimated at the time, hence the change to shorter narratives to see how I fared.

In November 2013, I finished work on my first short story, "45 Days", and it was rather different in tone from When Justice Comes Calling. Whilst Justice was a crime noire piece, 45 Days was set in a dystopian future, told from the point of view of a hitman-for-hire, and was an absolute blast to write. It was also really liberating to write a self-contained story that flowed from A to B to C without thinking too much about the entire universe that the story is set in.

That being said, the short story was successful and proved popular with those who took the time out to buy and read it from the Amazon Kindle store. With that in mind, the gears in my head began turning on telling a story from the opposite side of the spectrum, from the viewpoint of a victim in this environment and world I had laid the groundwork for in 45 Days. After a few months of brainstorming and several nights of intense writing and then substantial editing, "Descent Into Madness", the sequel to 45 Days, was born.

Descent Into Madness was published on Amazon Kindle in February 2014, three months after the release of 45 Days. I was satisfied with the response to the story, and I received good feedback also. I was also contacted by an animator who was interested in bringing the two stories to life in a flash animation trailer that may be fleshed out into a series. I'm still discussing that with the animator at the moment, but the negotiations such as pricing and ideas seem to be going well in my opinion.

In March I decided to release both 45 Days and Descent Into Madness as a collective hardback titled "The Justice Anthology". This meant that my work could be potentially sold in-stores, and those without a Kindle or wanting a physical copy now had a chance to buy it in hardback. I sold through Amazon's CreateSpace website who were really helpful and supportive to someone like me who was completely new to self-publishing.

As I returned to my earlier work When Justice Comes Calling, I began imagining a cross-arc between the characters in that novel, and those introduced in 45 Days and Descent Into Madness. I managed to weave in storyline elements and characters from the two released short stories that allowed me to connect all three stories into one breathing world. At present, 3/4 of When Justice Comes Calling is complete, with only the third act to now be written.

That being said, I'm having some major issues with the story, and whilst I plan on completing it, I'm unsure if I'll ever release the story on Kindle or hardback.

I began work on the story a year ago, and in that year I've seen a lot of changes to my writing style and how I approach stories, character development, themes etc - and whilst I have enjoyed where the story is heading, it feels almost too grand in scale. It's pacing, as well as the style it is written in (it reads vastly different to the short stories) is clashing with how I write these days. I've evolved as a writer personally, and I'm just not satisfied with how the story is turning out. I certainly don't want to release something I'm not happy with, and I reckon that by the time When Justice Comes Calling is finished, I won't be able to release it. Even with extensive editing, I don't think I'm happy releasing it on Kindle or hardback.

At this moment in time, I have a few options.

The first is to complete the story, draw a line under it, and just let it sit on my computer completed, never to see the light of day but as a reminder of  several good and bad ideas for future reference.

The second is to maybe come back to it one day, edit the hell out of it, and MAYBE send it out to those who want to read it for free, or if this blog picks up any kind of traction, release it chapter by chapter on here for anybody and everybody to read.

The third and final option, is to completely rewrite the story from the ground up. I think the premise of the idea has potential, but it is bogged down by so many pitfalls and things I am not happy with that I would have to just start from scratch. I don't know if I did this that I would tie it into 45 Days and Descent Into Madness - I think looking back the narrative can stand on its own two feet. That said, having an over-arching storyline would be very cool, but I think it would clash too much with what is already established in the short stories.

At press time, it is 3/4's finished and that is how it's going to stay for the moment. I have no desire to finish the story halfheartedly just for the sake of doing so, so instead I'm going to leave it be. Like I said before, the themes and ideas I'm proud of and will make a great basis for future stories, but I'm just not happy with the execution. Half of that has to do with how I've changed as a writer in the past year, but in all honesty, the other half was due to the narrow-minded belief that I could simply tie this pre-existing story into this completely unrelated idea seamlessly and have it fit. Excellent authors may be able to do this, but at this point in time, I certainly can't - and that's okay.

The positive news out of this is that it has been a very eye-opening experience, and it hasn't diminished my desire to write in any way, shape or form. The gears are still turning, the ideas are still being developed on new stories, and I'm still very much excited to continue writing.

Where I go from here I haven't quite figured out yet, but common sense says I'll likely go back to writing a short story of some kind. Writing a fully-fledged novel has been a fantastic experience but exhausting also (and in a lot of ways, overwhelming). I think my best bet is to go back to what brought me to the dance with 45 Days and Descent Into Madness. I've purchased several guides and books in order to improve myself as a writer which I can't wait to dive into and explore (which is yet another reason why I'm going cold turkey on the social media front).

As they say, it's back to the old drawing board for me - I can't wait.

Thanks to everyone for their continued advice and support, and if you've made it through all this, thank you for taking the time to read. This blog is honestly more for my own peace of mind more than anything else, but if you are showing a vested interest in what I'm trying to achieve, thank you very much.

Watch this space.

- Will