Stops and starts: all part of the process

I think I mentioned in my last post that I was trying not to get distracted by the bad news from Big Tech. I failed! It’s part of the reason why I haven’t written a post, or got on with my next book, for a couple of weeks.

To be fair, I gave myself a small amount of leeway after handing in Book 9 (always a sense of relief!) before getting down to Book 10. But then out of the blue I found, to my horror, that ALL my published books, of which I’m very proud, had been stolen by Meta to train its generative AI. I’m not alone here — many authors I know are in the same position, and we’re all shocked and furious.

I use the word ‘stolen’ intentionally, by the way, because without doubt it is theft, to take someone’s work and use it without permission and without paying for it. Most authors don’t earn anything like enough to brush this off, me included.

I began to think about other parts of the publishing industry and the effects of AI, which are already being felt by translators, narrators, proofreaders and copywriters. The implications for them are enormous. AI can literally do the things that they do to earn a living, and it can do them well, much faster and without money changing hands. It’s getting better all the time. I began to feel depressed by the prospects for our industry, which isn’t exactly motivating when you’re trying to start a whole new novel!

The part of my job that I love is the writing. Getting ‘into’ a story and becoming immersed in it is thrilling and hugely satisfying. Of course, all writers experience times when they struggle: to get started, to write beautiful prose, to enjoy the process. But most of the time the creative part is brilliant. The getting published bit, not so much. There are many stresses: finding an agent and a publisher, dealing with edits, satisfying deadlines, worrying about sales, trying to help market your book — I could go on. But on the whole I’ve loved every minute of being an author, and to have that sour feeling about it with the advent of AI isn’t pleasant.

The second thing that brought me up short is that I re-read the beginning of Book 10, which I’d started writing while awaiting feedback on Book 9 from readers and my agent. I’d got some way into the book, and I felt sure that I’d made a good start. But when I read it with fresh eyes, I realised it wasn’t right. Not immediate enough. Thrillers need immediacy; it’s part of the definition.

I was overthinking the background to the story — too much back story, not enough getting right into it. It’s a common problem, and one I always trip over. Then, of course, I did the wrong thing. I changed the beginning of the story, but, reluctant to waste what I’d already produced, I tried to make it fit with the new start. I got all wound up with flashbacks and tenses and it just didn’t work.

Naturally, this didn’t help my motivation. Neither does the fact that this story was written down as a synopsis more than a year ago, and it’s taken this long to get to it. If you follow my posts, you’ll perhaps remember why. My editor wasn’t giving me feedback (for about three months), and it turns out she was planning to leave my publisher. To cut a long story short, I didn’t get any feedback after that until I made the decision to take on an agent. Then I needed to finish the book I’d started in the meantime, which turned out to be Book 9.

I began to worry that the story just wasn’t fresh enough for me. I’d agonised over it for so long, I’d lost the excitement I always get when I start a new book. But then I remembered that false starts and major edits are all part of the process. I once threw out three quarters of an eighty thousand-word novel and started again. The result was one of my best-selling books.

I like my story! The setting inspires me; the characters are still forming in my head, but they’re turning out well. I’m going to start again, try to forget what’s happening with AI, and plough ahead. The words that I’ve written so far may or may not be used in the final version, but that’s okay. In scrapping them and changing the beginning, I’ll make a better book.

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