I've got a novel coming out

I’m about to publish my first novel.  It’s called ‘GoodCopBadCop’.  Some of you might already recognise the title from the brace of graphic novels written by me a few years back, published by Rough Cut.  The novel has given me the chance to really get into the guts of the mind(s) of the main protagonist.  This for me will be the definitive version.  Now I’ve done it, I can move on and write something else.

For those who don’t know, GoodCopBadCop is a modern crime novel in the tradition of Jekyll and Hyde where the ‘good cop’ and ‘bad cop’ are the same person.

The plan is to use this blog to dip in and out and provide a commentary on various facets of the debut novel experience.  If I was to sum up the process in a few bullet points, it might read a little like this: 

- Write the thing
- Send it out to traditional publishers
- Decide to go the self-publishing rout
- Redrafts/editing/proof-reading
- Publishing
- Marketing
- Lessons learned (in case I want to write another one)

Like any creative process, the one above isn’t strictly a linear one.  You can, for example, start talking about the book (which could come under marketing) before you’ve even written a single word. 

Also, now I’ve decided to go down one publishing route rather than another, I’m treating ‘sending it out to traditional publishers’ as a by-word for putting your ‘finished’ manuscript in a drawer for six months before taking it back out again, ready with fresh eyes for the final redraft, which is itself a by-word for another six months of rewriting.

As I type, the manuscript is with a proof-reader.  I’m hoping the book will be out before the end of the year, probably when everyone is skint in the lead up to Xmas, but I see this project as a slow-burner.  People will still be finding out about the book in six months’ time.

If this is a road trip (bear with me), then feel free to climb aboard.  We'll see where it gets us.