Reviewing my most recent creative progress from the last few weeks…

I’ve been on something of a hiatus this month, with progress on certain projects drawing to a temporary halt. This gave me time to reflect on these projects’ direction and future, and what I plan to work on next. Some big decisions being made behind the scenes. Here’s how things have been going across September.

The Dale Hurst Writing Show

Regular visitors will probably know plenty about my podcast, The Dale Hurst Writing Show, which is approaching the halfway point of its third season. So far, I’ve released episodes with a diversity of guests — novelists, poets, filmmakers and publishing pros — with more of the same to come as we build up to Christmas. Speaking of which, this last couple of weeks has been spent planning the final episodes, including our festive special. Many more interesting guests to listen in on.

The main consideration for the podcast is its future… where do I take it from here? Several ideas are on the table at the moment. Currently weighing up pros and cons, and choosing over my favourites, some of which involve working with more people than just my guests. More news to come once I’ve arrived at a final decision.

You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic

The majority of August saw some of the highest productivity from me in terms of writing my war thriller novel, You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic. To the point where, based on chapters, I’m over 80% of the way through the first draft.

In September… I’m ashamed to say I’ve barely moved. It’s been a much slower month, not least due to the heat wave that coincided with a trip to Wales. However, it gave me a chance to think about what’s going to happen to the story in the re-drafting and editing process. What’s going to change. Currently, the changes could be quite extreme. Not just a different ending, but also a change to the main protagonist, which could even put the novel’s title out of commission!

Nothing is confirmed yet until I read through the draft once it’s finished. I’m just very aware that there are things I need to change off the bat.

Other projects

I have far too many ideas floating around for what to take on as my next project, following completion of You Can Hear Chopin. Not that we’re anywhere near that stage yet. But I find it helps to know what I’m moving onto next. Having gone from novel to novel to novel, with very little variety in between, I’m entertaining the idea of a more collaborative project next. So, rather than moving straight onto Book 4 — whether that’d be another standalone project or a return to Berylford — I’m thinking more along the lines of a film or play.

On the other hand, I could compile a load of poem and short story ideas into a collection and publish that instead. These ideas have been growing in number lately, and with a lack of recent success in competitions, it would be good to give them an outlet.

What would you like me to work on next? Let me know in the comments or on my socials. Like my Facebook page and Follow me on Instagram and get in touch.

Waste not, want not. It applies to writing as much as anything else. There may be some little gems hidden in bad ideas. Here’s what to do with them…

I have a ton of plans on my laptop. Plus countless scraps of paper, notes on my phone, jottings in the back of notebooks… all relating to potential ideas for books, poems, films, plays, etc. Some of them, I consistently look at and add to and think: Yes, this is a good idea. But the majority, they’re made on whims. Ideas that I scribbled down quickly before I forgot, only for me to forget why I thought it was a good idea at all. And as such, they may never see the light of day as stories in their own right.

Bad ideas are, in my opinion, anything from which you can’t formulate a direction. Maybe you can’t attach believable characters or a feasible storyline. Perhaps the conflict is not plausible or credible. Or it may just be unoriginal. However, there may be flickers of usable content in those ideas.

So, the thing to do is start up a brand new Word document (or whatever word processing software you use). Use this as your bank for all your jottings. Include all the stuff you’ve noted on your phone, anything you have written on scraps of paper. Keep it all in one place. You never know — you may be working on one of those good ideas and something may call to you from this bank. A gem that you can salvage from the scrap. Whether that’s a character name, a piece of plot, or a line of dialogue.

Off-cuts and throw-outs

As many of you know, the two books in the The Berylford Scandals series took in total 12 years to complete and publish. And as you might expect, in that time, I read and re-read the manuscript countless times. Giving rise to a lot of story content and characters that didn’t make it to the final products.

This wasn’t necessarily because it was all bad, in my opinion. Some of it was, but not all of it. There’s a lot from the Berylford chronology that has been written, and gets alluded to in the two novels. The early political career of Abel Stirkwhistle, for example, and the subsequent mysterious death of a Norwegian nobleman. Or the marriage of Lady Vyrrington’s eldest daughter Venetia. These still exist, they just haven’t been published. And while the Berylford series is on hold for now… one day, who knows? I may find the time to go over those cut chapters and formulate brand-new, full-length stories.

If you run into the same situation, where you’re cutting and culling from your manuscript… if you find anything that you think has potential, but just doesn’t belong in your current story… again, use your bank document. Cut and paste it into there, give it a placeholder title and a couple of lines to remind yourself of the context. One day, it may come in useful.

In short, don’t permanently throw anything away unless it really is just terrible. Keep all your ideas – bad or otherwise – written down in one place, plus anything you throw out or cut from your drafts and manuscripts. You may thank yourself in future and find the right place for them.

Thank you for reading. Do you have a question about my ongoing and future work? If so, get in touch via my Facebook and Instagram pages. Also read further posts out more about my latest novel, and stay up to date with my podcast.