Updates about writing the final instalment in the Lifespan of Starlight trilogy: Edge of Time:
Dealing with dead ends and doubt
Dead-ends and doubt are inevitable parts of the creative process. Some of my favourite plot twists have even grown out of the worst of my creative struggles.
My solutions for pushing through usually involve:
- a walk or run
- researching semi-related scientific facts about time, sleep, biology, the cosmos
- jotting down themes and emotions and linking them with doodles and ideas
- doing the vacuuming (surprisingly productive).
But the main way I keep going is by picturing a future point when I’m out the other side. With the Lifespan of Starlight trilogy, it’s been the moment when I could hold all three books in my hands – when all three parts of Scout’s story have been told.
Author copies of Edge of Time arrived today. Such a good feeling. Finally, this day has arrived.
A cover
Edge of Time has a cover! It's interesting to compare it with the initial cover concept ideas I sent to the publisher at the start - both in terms of the differences and the similarities. I think it's my favourite in the Lifespan of Starlight trilogy. (And just wait until you see all three spines lined up in a row ...)
Artist residency
Today is the final work day of my artist residency with Jacky Winter Gardens and I'm finding one scene in my novel frustratingly difficult to resolve. I can feel its truth hovering just out of my reach, and can't find a clear way to hold onto it. But this sort of struggle is part of the creative process so I can accept the frustration. My time here has reminded me that insights take time - such as the symbolic waterline. When you first walk into the house, a seemingly minor element framing the space is a midnight blue skirting board - it's a block of colour that stays the same level as you descend the stairs into the sitting room (the blue stripe is around knee high here) and finally down to the bedroom at the lowest level, where it's about waist height and level with the bed. The effect is like wading into a deepening ocean as you move through the house - a symbolic descent into your own subconscious, or perhaps creative spirit. It's one of my favourite aspects of the house. And I didn't even notice it until I'd been here for three days.
Artist residency 2
While working on the Lifespan trilogy, I've grown increasingly aware of my relationship with time. After all, it is a time travel story. While working here in the studio at Jacky Winter Gardens, I've found myself slowing down - reading existing scenes on paper rather than on screen, and writing new scenes by hand rather than typing - both slower, more contemplative ways of working. It's as if the house itself is helping me to soften, to sit and consider. What a precious gift - a softening of time.