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Dale Hurst – Author - Dale Hurst is an author, journalist and broadcaster.
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Progress Report — July 2019

21 July 2019 No Comments
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Time for the monthly catch-up. How’s the progress with all these writing projects?

Last time I checked in with a progress report, I was juggling a lot of other work and different projects. But very little of it was actually writing, sad to say. A lot has changed in the last couple of weeks, however. For one thing, I was offered a part-time salaried journalism position with a new start-up, so I’m no longer in bar work (again). I also said a goodbye of sorts to my first brain-child Expensive Tastes, my restaurant critique blog that I started back in 2012. Still putting the odd review up on the Facebook page; currently recounting my recent trip to Brighton in three parts.

So, with all this freedom, I have more time to dedicate to these books. How have we progressed since last month?

The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy

This is, of course, the direct sequel to Lust & Liberty, the novel I published last year. A draft was sitting there waiting for me to pay it some attention. I’m now going through the process of revising it one last time. Or so I thought. In actual fact, I’m basically rewriting it with much of the feedback I’ve had from L&L in mind. A lot of new material is going in; the process has become far less simple than I first imagined. A sample from one of the most recent new chapters can be read in this article here.

Right now, we’re on Chapter 28. In short, nowhere near halfway through!

You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic

My wartime thriller set in a Berlin hotel. Naturally, with my efforts concentrated on Sin & Secrecy, I have not made much progress with this other novel. It has been more a case of making notes on the plan, including making changes to characters whenever I think of them. One of the bigger alterations is to the main antagonist, the SS officer Leopold Upfauer. From his inception, I gave him the rank of Hauptsturmführer, the equivalent to a captain. Despite what you may think, this is a junior rank in the grand scheme of things, and it didn’t quite work when I have been setting Upfauer up as someone very close in Hitler’s confidence. He needed a massive promotion, in this case, to Standartenführer.

You Can Hear Chopin is, in my opinion, the story with which I will be confident to approach agents, publishers and competitions. And the subject matter has intrigued a lot of readers who I’ve spoken with in person, which is always a good sign. In short, I think it’s something I’ll be happy to wait to work on, so I can give it my full attention.

Secret Third Project

Don’t forget about my little non-fiction project I have going on in the background. At the moment, I’m awaiting the foreword, which I commissioned an old friend to put together for me. Once I receive that, I may be in a position to reveal a little more about this book. Watch this space…

Which one are you most looking forward to? Is there a project you’d like to know more about or see a sample from? Let me know in the comments section!

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Written by: Dale Hurst
Blog

Progress Report — June 2019

11 June 2019 No Comments
Progress

Been a while since I wrote anything, but a few of you have asked me in person. How’s everything coming along? Time for the first of a (hopefully) monthly progress report…

Allow me to let you in on a little secret… I work a lot! Aside from the whole author thing, I’m also the editor of a local interest online magazine-come-tourism website called Humans of Bournemouth. I also freelance as a copywriter and proofreader, and on top of all that, I do part-time shifts behind the bar of a hotel. Primarily for research and influence purposes for my novel, You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic.

That’s the novel I’m NOT currently writing, to something of my great regret. I got 300-odd pages in and had to call a halt to progress, in order to revise and finish The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy. You will have seen a few snippets of that one dotted around here and there. Plus the video reading I did, which you can find here on YouTube.

As such, I can struggle to juggle my numerous projects. And since I have been asked by a few people how things are progressing, I thought I would give you the report.

The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy

This is the original Berylford story that I first drafted all the way back in 2008. From then, it spawned a prequel, which I published last year as The Berylford Scandals: Lust & Liberty. But I finished Sin & Secrecy countless times, and now I am going over it once more to change events, create more drama, remove things don’t quite fit. To keep it consistent with L&L, basically. It is, however, much darker in tone than its prequel, with a greater emphasis on the mystery elements. Very little romance about it.

Currently, the book is 585 pages long. However, I’m only just over 200 pages into the revisions. So, we could still be some time…

You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic

A wartime thriller set in a Berlin hotel in 1943. One of the ideas of which I am proudest. Which, apart from the odd idea or snippet, has remained virtually untouched for the past few months. On Page 323 of the first draft — nowhere near even halfway complete. But I’m happy about that. So much more to research. So many directions in which to take it. If anything, leaving it there gives me the motivation to finish Sin & Secrecy as mentioned above.

The encouraging thing is that many of you have already told me you are interested and/or excited about it. Especially male readers who weren’t so keen on the subject matter of Lust & Liberty…

Unnamed Third Project

There’s something I haven’t mentioned yet, because I want it to be a surprise when I finally release it. This is the project I have been dedicating most of my time to, since there’s a bit of a clock on it. I won’t tell you too much. Other than it’s non-fiction, and it’s very nearly finished…

Which one are you most excited for? Let me know in the comments! Or give me a message on my Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram page(s).

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Written by: Dale Hurst
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About me

Dale Hurst is an author specialising in historical fiction, mystery, crime and black comedy.

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