Skip to content

Work begins on ‘Alpine Dawn’

Alex Roddie
Alex Roddie
1 min read
Somerset House, Strand, in the 1840s. The action begins
in the street near this spot on Christmas Eve, 1847.

After months of very hard work, on Saturday I realised I had run out of things that needed doing before I could start writing my new novel. The realisation was a startling one as I’ve been used to having an enormous to-do list for months now. When the moment came to start it was actually a little scary: I almost felt that I didn’t want to ruin my perfect plan and my meticulous characters by doing something so disruptive as writing about them, but ultimately I got over my nerves and started to write The First Sentence.

I now have an entire first draft for Chapter One, which I’ve provisionally named Ten Thousand Guineas Owed. It’s 5,566 words long and has only two scenes, and compared with my previous work it’s a bit less ‘chatty’; it has far less dialogue and more meat to it. My writer’s voice has changed and I’m already getting the distinct sensation that this is going to be a far more mature book than OGJ.

Although it’s very obviously first draft material and unquestionably rough around the edges, I’m encouraged. My first draft of OGJ’s Chapter One was horrific to behold.

A little teaser for you:

“Ten thousand guineas. Kingsley had tried to forget the sum, because it made him physically sick whenever he thought of it: a feeling that only those who have lost all semblance of control over their affairs can empathise with. What a wretched world, he thought, what a futile life; were it not for Emma I would have given myself to the Thames years ago. Dear, complicated Emma.”


Ok so not much to go on so far, but enough to realise that our hero Kingsley is in a bit of a pickle at this early stage in the story.

5,566 words down, 100,000+ to go!

NotesAlpine DawnWriting

Alex Roddie

Happiest on a mountain. Writer, story-wrangler, digital and film photographer. Editor of Sidetracked magazine (I make the words come out good).

Comments


Related Posts

Members Public

Home...

Yesterday, after packing all our stuff into a big red van, we made the drive back up north from Lincolnshire to our new home in Scotland. Dire warnings of snow spiced things up a bit, but in fact we barely saw a speck of snow on the drive, and skies

Home...
Members Public

A first walk in my local hills after the move to Scotland

Yesterday, Hannah and I moved into our new house near Forfar. We've got a to-do list as long as my arm, but today I managed to escape up into the Sidlaws, our local hills, for a couple of hours...

A first walk in my local hills after the move to Scotland
Members Public

Operation Move to Scotland is go

In March 2022, I made a decision: it was time to move back to Scotland. Next week it is finally happening.

Operation Move to Scotland is go

Mastodon