Book Cover – The Compostela Key

A potential cover for The Compostela Key.

Potential book cover for The Compostela Key

WIP’s

When you are writing a book, what do you refer to it as…

1. Your story? (Sound’s like you are crazy).
2. Novel (It ain’t one yet) likewise for book.
3. WIP, Work in progress, (not specific enough).
4. Film (Way ahead of yourself)
5. Title, in my case The Compostela Key (what the hell is that?)
6. Obsession (Too close to the truth).

So all aspiring writers or ones that have actually made it, what do you refer to your…insert here from the above list as?  And how do you feel about it when telling people?

Editing a Novel and Word Counts

So it was with great fanfare, personal triumph and a real tinge of sadness that I declared that I had finished writing and editing my first novel called The Compostela Key.

As with previous times however, when I have thought I have finished, I soon found that I hadn’t.

Writing has taken me on quite a journey and provided me with the biggest learning curve I have ever encountered.  Three years ago, I started out writing a first person scene which has since gradually evolved into 140,000 word third person subjective!

And so after reading Jessica Rosen’s Friday Forum on Submission Details  http://tiny.cc/N6Stv and coming across an article on word count, I now realise that I have only taken another step on my own camino and not completed the journey.

So my next dilemma is to make it two books or keep it as an epic?  With a word count hitting such lofty heights it is sure to put most agents/publishers off at first look, but then it works so well at that number.

There is a natural spilt halfway, but it is one that is more suited to a second story leading into a third, think the ending of The Empire Strikes Back.

Time will tell what fork in the road to take.

If you have encountered the same problem then don’t hesitate to leave a comment and let me know what path you took…

Social media, finding the time to do it all and exciting new projects.

It’s been a while since I last updated with a post, but that’s not to say that I haven’t been hard at work…hence my neglect.

The final draft of the novel is currently being edited and is taking up most of my allocated time at present.  

I have also been busy designing the website which is now live.  This can be seen at www.thecompostelakey.com

Please take a look and let me know what you think!

You can also become a facebook fan, just enter the words Compostela Key and you should find it easily enough. Plus you can also follow the story’s progress on twitter.

Exciting times are also ahead, I’m currently working on a script for a trailer and several teasers to promote the story and the novel.  It’s my aim to make some book trailers that are slick and ‘Hollywood’ rather then the very dodgy, cheesy ones that introduce many books out there.  

These trailers will also see me engage with some great talent.  Illustrator Paul Langley will be continuing to develop the look of the characters with his excellent sketches as well as producing the storyboards.  You can see some of his character designs on the website.

James Luke McGregor will be lending a hand with his brilliant motion graphics, be sure to check his website to see what he can do…www.gpx-design.com  Lastly, Natalie Humphreys will be helping me shoot both film and stills with her eye for a great shot.

Keep dropping in from time to time to keep track of any developments.

Potential Book Cover

Well, it’s been a while since my last post because I have been hard at work trying to get the second draft nailed down.  Only a couple of chapters left to go now, so all is flying on that front. One other area I’ve been working on is some promo art for the novel.

A really talented friend of mine, called Paul Langley,

Mitch Randall, by Paul Langley

Poster and potential book cover for the Compostela Key

has jumped on board and is doing some awesome character designs, which by how good they are, could lead to a potential graphic novel version also.  

It’s been amazing visually seeing my characters and having someone else put their interpretation on it.  It has made the whole writing process feel a lot more real and not just some fantasy.  So if you know anyone who is good at illustrations get them to breathe some life into your work!  

I knocked together the poster with Paul’s excellent character design and a shot I took of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela last night in a couple of hours.  

Poster and potential book cover for the Compostela Key

As always, let me know your thoughts!

The Evolution of a Character

Mitch Randall

The main protagonist in The Compostela Key, is troubled private investigator, Mitch Randall.  World wise and physical, the P.I fights his way around the Mediterranean following the key’s trail and searching for its fabled treasure.

Mitch’s character first came into existence during a GNVQ media lesson I was teaching back in 2004.

I had set the students a brief with which to work together and create a short film noir featuring a private investigator and out of it Mitch was born.

Mitch Randall and A Note of Death told the supernatural story of a set of musical notes that brought about the gruesome death of those who played them. 

Mitch Randall and A Note of Death

Ronnie Smith, a prisoner framed for the murder of his friends who had played the notes, hires Mitch to clear his name.

Since then the character has developed immensely in every way.  Initially I decided to use the name Mitch Randall, in order to pay homage to the great class who created him and also because it has that cool iconic ring to it. 

Mitch, in A Note of Death, was your archetypical P.I.  He had the look, the drinking problem, the smoking habit, the whole tortured soul thing going on and also that dogged determination that all film noir investigators have from Sam Spade to Phillip Marlowe.

Throughout the following years, Mitch was a character that kept cropping up in my mind.  There was just something about his potential that intrigued me and after using the name once more in a photography project, it became clear I had to do something which did him more justice.

What I’ve done with Mitch Randall five years later is to put flesh on the bones.  He’s now a character in his own right as opposed to a genre pastiche.

In The Compostela Key, we learn that the essence of Randall’s very character was shaped by the actions of his wife during the Spanish Civil War and her subsequent death.  This one event defined the man.  

Mitch Randall and the Mysterious Femme Fatal

Mitch Randall and the Mysterious Femme Fatal

Mitch Randall and the Mysterious Femme Fatal

It’s what shapes the controlling relationship he has with his daughter, brings down the relationship he holds with the journalist Jessica Black and drives him to seek revenge with General Juan Navarro. 

His demons drive him, but will they ultimately send him to his doom or play a part in setting him free?

The Ticking Time Bomb

The ticking time bomb, a device used to create and build tension through a story.  Time is running out and the hero must prevail or face his certain doom.

Sometimes it feels like the would be author faces this challenge each day.  You want your novel published because time, for whatever reason, is running out!  So, it is on the days where you just simply can’t get going with your story and take it one step closer to completion, that you start to feel utterly annoyed.  You begin to feel the pain you put your characters through.

Now, as writing doesn’t pay the bills just yet, you have to take the time to write when you get it.  But then sometimes the free time you have put aside to use, fails to conspire creatively and three days later you are still trying to unravel your thoughts into words.  You have to take the chances when you get them.  My time came as I climbed into bed last night.

You know how it is, you are reading, fighting the urge to close your eyes and fall asleep.  You want to make it to the end of the chapter.  Your eyes begin to hurt, so you close them just for a few seconds………Your eyes begin to hurt, so you close them just for a few seconds.  You read over what you’ve already read numerous times, making it to the end of the same line, before you fall asleep again.

Well in my case last night I did the same whilst writing!  Its only taken three days to decipher the workings of the chapter I’m writing and finally I get into it…..the words flow, the characters grow and develop, the story takes on a new and interesting angle, I hit the magic point where I could write all day, the creative mojo is back!  And then tiredness takes hold, my eyes start to close, I read and re-write the same line numerous times before succumbing and finally giving up. 

Hopefully the writing mojo is still here this morning…time will tell!

Hollywood, published authors, don’t you just hate them…..

Have you ever had that horrible gut wrenching, stomach churning feeling?  You spend years, months, days, hours and yes, you guessed it, even minutes developing your story.  Then Hollywood or an existing author comes along and uses your idea…..or at least, just a portion of it.

First it came with the new Indiana Jones and a certain motorbike chase.  My chase is better though, I tell myself.  And it is!

Secondly, the new Harry Potter trailer shows a mysterious island in its climactic scenes, much like the one at the top of my blog.

Thirdly, the new Transformers film uses a certain pyramid and constellation  link…..urrghhh come on!! 

It’s a strange one though, you kind of feel good that you are including the same exciting things as a Hollywood film, but then so utterly cheated, even if it is just a brief scene!

Personally I’m dreading the new Dan Brown book…..if that novel features a Spanish cross shaped key as its lost symbol I’m gonna….well, let’s put it this way, it would make an excellent crime thriller!

Has this kind of thing ever happened with you?  Please leave a comment and share your pain!  Maybe we could set up a trauma group!

The Biggest Hook

So, as titles go, I was pretty sure that after two and a half years, The Compostela Key was the best title I was going to come up with for my book.  

  I believed it was obscure enough to stand on a shelf and make a passerby want to pick it up.  Thought that it had that right blend of mystery and foreign exoticness in its essence.  And extremely all round damn clever in its meaning, being, roughly translated as, field of stars.  i.e. The Key to a Field of Stars.  OOooo clever, I heard my audience cry.

  Now I’m not so sure.  Well, maybe I am.  I’m just not sure the reader would be on first glance.

  To be honest, having come up with that one quite early on, I hadn’t given it much thought since.  At first, I had given it the prefix – working title.  However after serving it’s time and seeing it used, I gradually began to grow fond of it and so, The Compostela Key stuck and was given official status.

  But then, only the other day, on the launch of The Compostela Key on twitter, blog and a nifty looking website, which by the way is still coming soon, a colleague asked the question….”So then, what’s this Compost-ela Key then?”

  It was as if the cd skipped right at the good bit of the song…..what??  Suddenly it didn’t sound so cool.  After all, I had only heard it pronounced the correct way before. 

  Flippantly I replied to the comment, letting the word Compostela role of my tongue in my best Galician accent.  ”Oh, you mean The Com-po-st-ela Key, that’s the book I’ve been working on.”

  To say I didn’t want to go and throttle the said colleague in a Homer Simpson stylee, for his lack of culture, would’ve been an understatement.  (Especially when he believes himself to be so cultured. )

  However, instantly, alarms bells rang in my mind….a further commentator quipped, ‘disappointed’ that the story wasn’t about a man who had “locked his compost and can of Stella in his shed down the allotment, but couldn’t find the key..”  

  If people don’t judge a book by its cover, they certainly will by its title.

  Still, they have good points, and the whole purpose of these self marketing, feedback outlets, is already beginning to pay off.

  Then as if by fate, as I pondered the workings of a title, a link from motsjustes twitter page to a story on the guardian website, put a new slant on things.  It would seem a lot of the greats went through the same dilemma as to what to call their stories.  After all, surely it is the biggest hook for a novel?

  Ultimately I guess, it’ll be the decision of the publisher and film execs, well,  hopefully……

Prologue – The Compostela Key

Capitan Alonso Stara of the Galician Guardia Civil sat at his generals former desk, pen in hand, poised and ready to write the telegram. 

  It wasn’t the first time he had done so.  Again, his mind ran blank as fear threatened to get the better of him.  He looked at the diary on the desk and picked it up, hoping that it would provide him with the answers he searched for. 

  He knew it wouldn’t.  Its contents had put his former generals actions into perspective, but raised a million more questions.  His eyes narrowed at the small black book.  The revelation it contained within its pages had shocked him to the core. 

  Along with the events of the last few days, the contents of the diary, if found, would place him in a very unfortunate position.  Still, he couldn’t throw it away.  It was too important.

  Stara knew that his decision had been made long before reading the revelations held within. 

  He pressed the nib onto the paper but stopped short once more.  His gaze turned to the imposing cathedral of Santiago de Compostela for inspiration.  Everything was normal.  Long shadows cast forth from the buildings that surrounded the square, the sun dipping late into the afternoon.

  The old town of the city glistened in the golden light, fresh from another sudden downpour that had just eased as the rumbling clouds had parted. 

  Stara shook his head ever so slightly as he watched the people walk by below him.  Unaware, they continued with their lives. 

  None knew, the secrets, which the grand cathedral before them, had led to.  He put the pen down as he pondered further the dilemma he was faced with, the choice he had made and the path he was about to take.

  A sharp knock at the door to General Navarro’s office broke Stara’s thoughts, as he recognised the slender silhouette of the secretary waiting behind the frosted window.  He could make out the shape of the woman he’d known since school, writing on a pad as she waited.  ”Come in.”  He soberly commanded. 

  He stood as she entered, walking across with her arm outstretched, holding out a piece of paper towards him.  “Sir, yet another wire has arrived from Madrid, the Caudillo requests to know the findings of General Navarro’s actions.”  The young woman asked tiresomely.  Her voice weighed heavy with the tired battle of trying to get a response from the captain.  But like everyone else, the secretary was also eager to know the whereabouts of the former General Navarro.  Rumor and speculation was rife surrounding his disappearance.

  Stara smiled charismatically at the woman before taking the telegram from off her and placing it on the desk.  He went to read it then stopped, nodding in acceptance of her apparent annoyance that he had spent too long putting off giving a reply.  “Okay, bare with me, I shall write a response now, save you finding another excuse.”  He sat at the desk once more and decisively put pen to paper.

*WIRE BEGINS*

June 14th 1953

Generalissimo Franco

Under General Navarro’s command, I accompanied him on the latter half of his mission, whilst he extensively researched the myth surrounding the Compostela Key.

Throughout the research trip, he continually persisted that the mission was authorised by yourself and that we were to follow your orders stringently.  Your command was passed down from him, to us. 

However, General Navarro grew increasingly deranged, with orders and actions not befitting the level of mission we undertook.  Or I might add the sanity of a man with such power and command.

I can assuredly conclude that although there was in fact a trail, it led to nothing of value, just the deserted island of Es Vedra, off Eivissa. 

The story that ran in the British newspaper, The Empire yesterday is embellished to say the least and is exaggerated greatly in order, I’d imagine, to sell newspapers.  I have subsequently dispatched a letter of complaint to the publishers and demand a full, published apology. 

The key itself was lost to the waters around Es Vedra along with General Juan Navarro who finally succumbed to his insanity. 

A detailed report has been filed and dispatched to your office.

We await your orders and until so, I will resume responsibility in the absence of a higher-ranking official.

Regards

Capitan Alonso Stara

*WIRE ENDS*

  He placed the pen down and folded the paper in half before standing and handing it to the anxious secretary.  She went to speak but he cut her short.  “Ofelia, send this personally.”  He turned his back to her as she went to exit the room, once more pensively, looking out across the square. 

  The woman’s hand rested on the door handle.  “Sir, please read the telegram.”  She asked before closing the door behind her.  His austere poise changed quickly and considerably.  Turning to the desk, he twisted the small key in the drawers lock and pulled it open.  He looked down at the single contents of the drawer.  Alone, rested the Compostela Key.   

  His eyes fixated on the silver key.  It was long, shiny and slender.  Shaped like the cross of St James, it would’ve resembled a sword in miniature were it not for the unique teeth that protruded from the bottom of its shaft.  Three bits, intricately cut, each spaced at one hundred and twenty degrees gave the key its distinctive look.  But as Stara examined it lovingly, his mind considered the trouble it had brought them and the investigation it now conceived.

 There had been phone calls personally from Franco, but they had gone unanswered like the telegrams.  The fact that Franco was conducting this investigation mostly via telegram had troubled the lieutenant the most. 

  Especially considering the level of destruction and mayhem that had taken place on numerous parts of Spanish soil and then the newspaper article, which had published a large spread on the events that had taken place, linking them to a British gangster. 

  His gaze drifted from the ornate key to the telegram on the desk, which in turn he began to carefully unfold.  As he read the words that Ofelia had summed up to him, something on the reverse caught his eye through the paper.

  As he turned the telegram over in his hand, his expression changed.  Under his breath he whispered to himself the scribbled words.  “They’re waiting for you downstairs, they have come to arrest you!”

  With a couple of bounds he quickly reached the door, turning the key in the lock, not that he thought it would hold them off, but it may just buy him some time.

  He scanned the office, quickly figuring out what to do.  Swiftly he concluded that the large windows behind the desk were his only escape from the room.  Running back over to them, he stopped momentarily to grab the Compostela Key from the drawer and the diary from off the desk. 

  He looked up towards the door.  Dark huddled shadows grew increasingly large as they stalked down the corridor towards the room.  He had to leave, now!

(c) 2009 David Gennard.  All Rights Reserved.