Progress

50267 words written... and Valkyrie and Skulduggery are barely in it.

This doesn't mean, of course, that they won't be taking their usual starring roles in Book 8. Of course they will. But I've had to approach this one in a slightly different way than normal.

Because this book is about, essentially, total war, I've had to think long and hard about how the different sides would fight— such as what tactics they would use in both the short and long term. It means I can't chop and change sequences like I usually would. If they're written, then they've been written for a very specific reason, and I can't mess about with that. So I figured the best way to write about these military actions is to write them FIRST. Write the skirmishes and the battles and the politics and the arguments, and get it all down on the page. Then, once I have the military aspect taken care of, I go back and write my usual Skul & Val stuff around and on top of it all.

It's an interesting way of working, to willingly ignore your main characters for large chunks of writing time. I sincerely hope it works...

Oh, and sometime in February I shall announce the title. I've had this title in mind for YEARS. Some of the early alternatives were:

Skulduggery Pleasant: The Billingsworth Continuum.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Behind Gold Eyes.

Skulduggery Pleasant: It's War, Baby.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Revenge of the Screaminator.

Skulduggery Pleasant: When Warlocks Attack.

Skulduggery Pleasant: A Very Nice Picnic.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Brain-Puncher.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Gut-Eater.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Skulduggery Goes Camping.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Things Get Nasty.

Skulduggery Pleasant: People Gonna Die.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Readers Gonna Cry.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Horace.


And amazingly, the actual title is better than ANY of those! I know, right?