Well, I'm working on two books at the moment. Firstly, the sequel to alternative history novel "die Stunde X", which will be called "nach Schema F". I'm writing that on my computer, and it's about 38,000 words in. Just under halfway, I think. The first book was a tight, fast-paced thriller. In the follow-up, I'm developing the characters more - my writing style has changed significantly since 1994, when I wrote "die Stunde X". I hope, however, it will still please fans waiting for a follow-up. I've also got an idea for the third in the trilogy, but I don't want to talk too much about that.
Secondly, I'm working on a transgressive fiction book called "Maggie's Children". I'm writing this with pen and paper. I'm about 25,000 words into it, so about a third of the way through it. I write this one when I'm out and about - in a pub at lunchtime, it a pub after work (yes, like most writers, I have a day job). This book is about a guy called Saul Castle, and the friends he met at university. But Saul has had a turbulent past, one he's still, at the age of 45, trying to come to terms with. We meet Saul as he is waiting to attend a friend's funeral, and we follow him as he falls in love again. Along the way, he tells us about his past, about his former wife, Sara, and their children. I think that because Benjamin Beerenwinkel was such a loathsome character, I want to write about someone who is the antithesis to him. Saul is a nice guy. He's also an alcoholic (though he won't admit that - it's that whole 'unreliable narrator' thing going on), but when you finally find out what he's been through you'll forgive him. Basically, it's a tragic love story, and a perfect novel to write after "Besotted". I actually enjoy writing about guys in their forties who have had a shit life - I guess that's because it's a perfect way to describe me.
"Besotted" took me almost 18 months to write, but then there was the whole 'getting mugged' thing to come to terms with. I hope to have the first drafts of both "nach Schema F" and "Maggie's Children" completed by July, but there will be lots more work after that to ensure that they're both fit for readership consumption. I know what you're thinking - you're thinking, "How the fuck can you write two books at once?" Well, at the moment, I'm reading three books - Amis's "Money", Picoult's "The Storyteller", and (for my shame) McNab's "Silencer". I find it easy, and very stimulating, to dip into more than one book at once. And when it comes to writing, it's the perfect solution to writer's block to have more than one book on the go.
I know that "Maggie's Children" is going to be a tough book to write - as challenging and draining as "Besotted" was - but hopefully it will be as well received. "nach Schema F", on the other hand, is just a gripping yarn, a fantasy, something to lose myself in, to not take too seriously.
When these two books are done, what next? Well, I'm 140,000 words (perhaps halfway) into "Dark Satanic Mills", my magnum opus. That's a book that I really want to get finished, and hopefully working on "nach Schema F" will encourage me to open up that particular Word document and get it finished.
2012 and 2013 were shit years production-wise. 2014, I intend to redress the balance.
Keep watching this space.
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