Blood of the Giants: Published Novella

My time with Fiction Express draws to a close. All five chapters are available for readers of the site.

It’s been a blast. One of the nicest things has been interacting with readers in the forum, which isn’t an experience I’ve had with my writing before (beyond receiving feedback to improve). Each week, I’ve posted topics for them to respond to (an opportunity for them to practice their English skills), which has involved them commenting on an element of that week’s chapter. For example, in the final week, I asked them what they thought happened in a conversation between two characters, which is alluded to in the last chapter but not shown. Many of the responses were fun to read, especially the ones where the students wrote out their own conversations, showing a great understanding of the characters! It’s been encouraging to know that readers have enjoyed the reading experience and to see how they have engaged with the story.

At some stage in the future, the novella may become available to purchase through Amazon. I’ll post a link in this blog if that does happen.

The big question for me now is what happens next. I’ve finished a draft of the YA novel that I’m sending to my agent later this month. When I receive her feedback, I will be moving into a stage of revision with that story. In the meantime, I’m outlining a couple of other ideas for Fiction Express. I would love to write for them again at some stage, although I know it won’t happen soon – they already have writers booked in for the next two half terms, meaning the earliest I could possibly write for them is in March. It’ll be back to Critique Circle in the short term with those projects, to hopefully get some feedback to make them attractive to the Fiction Express editors.

The reality of the tax year 2024-2025 is that I won’t earn enough from writing to cover my living costs. I’m not likely to be booked in for Fiction Express again, and the new novel, still in its rough first draft, is only at the beginning of a journey towards the editors at the big publishing houses – an advance is likely to be years away, if it happens at all. As such, I’ve applied for a part-time (ten hour) teaching assistant role this week. I’m hopeful that I can find a balance with a job like that which allows me to keep pushing forward with my writing projects.

The good thing about the Blood of the Giants novella is that it is my longest publication to date (at 12,500 words) so hopefully it is a sign that I’m moving in the right direction for the publication of a longer work. I’m grateful for the opportunity and for everything I’ve learned from the process.

Upcoming Activities

With the summer drawing to a close, here’s a roundup of everything that will be keeping me busy from September onwards…

The first is that I will be working with Fiction Express at last. This commissioned writing partners me with school students (mostly in Spain and Latin America) to write a story in five chapters. The students vote at the end of each chapter to determine where the story goes next. It’s a fun way to help them develop their English reading skills, and I’m excited to begin.

Another thing that I’m going to be doing (on a voluntary basis) is working with Grimm & Co. This is a charity that helps young people develop their creative writing skills. My agent recommended that delivering some writing classes could be another good thing for my overall portfolio, and it’ll be good to be around my target audience again. One of the things I miss from my teaching career is interacting with the kids.

The biggest project I have on the go (which will hopefully make some progress concurrent with Fiction Express) is the latest novel draft. I’ve reached 25K, so it feels like it’s taking shape. My rough estimates for completion put it somewhere in the 50-75K range, although I can’t say with any certainty while I’m still relatively early in the process. It’s still a first draft, and I expect I’ll need to make big changes (as always) once it’s finished. My hope is to have a full draft by the end of October – that’s when I’ve arranged to send what I have to my agent for feedback.

In other news, the story that was published in print is now freely available online here. It’s in a collection with lots of other short stories about how scientists are working to reverse the ongoing climate crisis, so it’s well-worth a read.