Book News: 99 Reasons Why

I haven’t really talked much about ’99 Reasons Why’. That’s not because I’m not rather fond of it, rather that I’ve been waiting for a verdict from Mr Publisher.

’99 Reasons Why’ is set back in the world where ‘In Search of Adam’ lived. To be precise it’s on the other estate, the one over the Coast Road from Jude’s estate, it’s set in the now (not in the 1980s) but a couple of the minor characters pop up. This makes it sound very familiar and safe, but some of the interesting features of the novel are that it was written to be a digital novel, there are no plans for it to be paper novel, there are no fancy fonts and the quirks come in a very different way.

And writing a novel knowing that it is to be a digital novel is a very different experience.

So, ’99 Reasons Why’ is Kate’s (not Katherine’s) story. Kate’s 22, from an absolutely dysfunctional family and has been employed to sit at her bedroom window and keep record of the comings and goings of the people who drop their kiddies at the nursery opposite her house. The story starts with Kate deciding that she wants one of the little girls from the nursery and she asks her mum to steal the child. Of course, Kate’s mum agrees and plans are made. But then Kate falls in love and what was supposed to be a simple child abduction gets a bit messy (possibly). (And, yes, that possibly is important)

Now, another reason why I’ve been very worried about this one (and not really talked about it much here) is because it’s possibly my most experimental yet. So experimental that my publisher is looking at technology to best present certain features of the book. I know I’m sounding all mysterious and that that’s very annoying, but I will tell you more as soon as I can. For now, it’s simple to say that this one’s a bit different and not at all commercial and wonky enough to offend. Fabulous!

I’d completed my initial rewrites and yesterday Mr Publisher emailed to say he was happy with my changes and that the next stage was copy-edits. Of course I then asked if I could read through it all again, before it goes to the copy-editor. It’s a bit like cleaning your house before a cleaner arrives. And yes, I am that anal.

More, soon.