It has been around six weeks since the last progress report on my writing, so here’s an update. Cade’s Point, the sixth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures is progressing well. Yesterday I watched the 1983 BBC version of Shakespeare’s Henry VI Part Two, starring Peter Benson as Henry, since the play features in Cade’s Point. Jack Cade is played by Trevor Peacock. I must say I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. I did draw some inspiration from it.
In pure project management terms, I am in the early scenes of chapter seven, and have eighteen chapters mapped out. I have written 22,461 words, so I’m heading towards a finished work in the 66,000 words area, at current chapter length. The Spy who Sank the Armada was 83,650 words, Fire and Earth 59,739, The Suggested Assassin 72,432, Called to Account 66,781, and the as yet unpublished Serpent’s Teeth 110,305. So the average is around 78,500. I note that I’ve gone long, shorter, longer, shorter, longer, so 66,000 would fit my pattern. By way of comparison, Agatha Christie’s average was 63,000. Her longest was Passenger to Frankfurt at 90,000, and her shortest was Cards on the Table at 55,000. Murder on the Orient Express was 63,000, and Death on the Nile 76,000.
However writing isn’t a numbers game, quality trumps quantity. I don’t really care if I don’t get it out in time for Christmas, I just want it to be the best book I can make it. In that respect the play within a play plot seems to have worked for some great writers, Shakespeare included (Hamlet).
In other news, at Milktown Writers we are working on an anthology of our work, which we hope to publish and put on sale at the Melksham River and Food Festival in September. I have contributed three short pieces, one on the river theme, and two on food. Well, I think that about covers my writing progress, so I’ll sign off for now.