Hugo & Madeline & the club
When I finished work on ‘Club Vidéo,’ (or video store, to give it its English name) I have to admit I was, as is usual for me, relieved. There’s no great pride or feeling like I’ve achieved something, but rather relief just to be finally done. I know that probably sounds weird, but after finishing eighteen novels, I finally think I understand the process, and the relief is a good thing.
The whole process begins with a simple idea. A paragraph and that’s all it takes for the whole process to start. Next, I’ll take the title I’ve come up with and from it design the cover. Once I have these two processes in place I can begin the first chapter. It’s just what works for me. Two months later (generally speaking) we have a complete book which I immediately and happily put to one side and breath a sigh of relief. No doubt there will have been a lot of days spent on it, some good, some bad and the last section (the dreaded denouement) always leaves me feeling a little brain drained, so once finished, as I said, it’s just a relief. I think when I finally get the first hardback copy in my hands is when it really hits home and I allow myself a brief pat on the back. But it is brief because there’s always the next adventure to begin.
Right now, I’m at the ‘tearing hair out’ stage of my next novel, ‘Hugo & Madeline.’ It’s an important one, and one I’ve been thinking about for a while now. It feels like I have to get this one right. The final in the prequel trilogy. To begin with, there were only meant to be two prequels, ‘Hugo & Josef’ and ‘Hugo & Madeline,’ but I was talked into adding a third by my husband (he’s a fan of the whole trilogy idea). So, out of nowhere came ‘Club Vidéo,’ a story I had never imagined. My idea with the prequels was a simple one, to act as a bookend and show how events transpired for young Hugo to make him the confused, conflicted and sometimes troubled adult we first meet in ‘Un Homme Qui Attend.’ And as I thought of adding a story between them, the idea came and it made perfect sense. For a story that was never meant to be, I think it ended up being a crucial piece of the puzzle. Quite why you’ll have to read it to see… but in the grand scheme of things, I think it makes perfect sense, and I think there may be a few tears on Hugo’s behalf!
The picture above is an outtake of the marvellous cover for ‘Club Vidéo,’ created by my wonderful collaborator, Maria Almeida. Usually, I send Maria ideas for each cover. That may be notes or images that I’ve found on the Internet, and use as a starting point for the original design Maria creates for me. Often though, these designs are created in advance of my actually finishing the novel, so sometimes they change. The picture above remains the same as the actual novel cover, apart from the removal of a dead body. I had originally envisaged Hugo stumbling about a murder victim outside the video store, but as the story progressed, that changed, which meant a rethink of the original design.
Now it is onwards and upwards with ‘Hugo & Madeline.’ This one feels like it’s been a little tougher than usual. Not just because I am keen to get it right, but because the dreaded COVID reared its head finally when I was in the early stages. I was only really out of commission for a few weeks, and I realise my symptoms were so much milder than others, but it was tough. No matter how hard I tried, my brain was just foggy and I spent many days just writing and rewriting the same paragraph. So much so that in the end I just gave up and went on to do something else (more about that later). Without COVID hanging over me, it’s back to H&M and I’m now finally in the final section. After my muddle, I went back to the beginning and began reworking the story and ultimately streamlining it and removing several characters I thought just weren’t needed. In the end, I’m pretty pleased with how it’s going and can’t wait to share it with you all.
I hope life is treating you well, and as December is upon us, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, however you spend it.
Much love.
Gxx