A Strong Hand From Above

My old novel of the same name has lain dormant for many, many years; having struggled with ‘Flipside’ my previous e-book, which was written years ago and presented me with the dilemma of whether to update it (give the characters internet access and mobile phones!) or whether to keep it in the 90’s, I found that the decision was easier with A Strong Hand. It will be brought up to date.

The other ‘difficulty’ is, that again like Flipside, I only have a hard copy of it… so am facing the prospect of copying it, changing it as I go.

So here’s an update: it suddenly struck me as I began work that instead of being a thriller, the opening read more like a Mills and Boon romance; now I do have a great respect for Mills and Boon, seriously I do. Some of the authors are great writers, some of the stories are intriguing and well-crafted, but the essence of them is that they are romances, with a strong love interest. The opening couple of pages of ‘A Strong Hand’ read just like a romance; it was patently obvious that two of the characters were going to end up in love by the end of the book. Where is the suspense in that? If the reader likes the characters they will just want to gallop through and find their hot embrace; if they don’t like them then the book will probably end up in a charity shop, unread and unloved.

After this depressing realisation struck, I ploughed on rather grumpily, until suddenly I had a realisation. Rather than copy the story out updating as I go, why don’t I rewrite? How liberating is that?! This means I can edit my nest to be published novel, ‘The Double Act’ and carry on ‘writing’ ‘A Strong Hand’!

Oh, and by the way, my featured image has nothing to do with this post, I just like Gromit!