The Gods in Haven: Draft Complete!
- Mark W White
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
The last time I publishedid a blog post at the beginning of October, I said I intended to start writing the short story The Gods in Haven the next day. That might not have turned out to be entirely accurate. Saying the next week might have been closer. Actually, that's a lie too. It was a month later.
Look, life's been busy, okay?
I mentioned my son was moving house closer to me, but unfortunately that fell through. Luckily, after a rapid visit and a bit of scrambling around, he found another place, which is still progressing nicely. So there's been plenty of packing and sorting out ever since.
Naturally, I've nicked a few things he didn't want in his new place (and donated some stuff too), and also temporarily took a few things he'll eventually want back. Included those were photo albums of my life with his mother, all the way back to university days in the early 1980s, plus of course, our family snaps. Quite a nostalgia trip!
They needed a lot of sorting out. I took that as an excuse to sort out a lot of my childhood photos that I inherited from my Mum and Dad at the same time, which came with a lot of older one of their youth, and beyond. I put them in albums, fitted up some new bookcases, and sorted them chronologically, like the nerd that I am. That took a while.
I have no idea of the provenance of some of the really old photos in there – snapshots of a lost world. I'll share a couple here. It feels as I could write a story around each one.
Anyway. They're all safely filed away on my new bookcases, waiting for me to go through them in more detail. Even a couple of the bookcases were a story in themselves. Somehow, they went missing in transit. After waiting a suitable time, I complained, and had replacements shipped, which arrived promptly. That let me get on with the sorting.
Then, a few days later while I was at a funeral wake, the original two bookcases arrived without warning and were left dumped outside my front door. Sigh.
Naturally, a week later, the company decided they wanted them back, so sent me a returns label for both. The instructions were to take the two large, 30 kg boxes to the post office, and stick stamps on them at my expense. Yeah, right.
Sometimes, you have to get stroppy. A few days later, they sent someone to pick them up.
Where was I? Oh yes. I was supposed to be talking about the short story. It's complete! Honest! Well, the first draft anyway. It needs another read-through and minor edits, mainly to tighten up a few character voices. Once that's done, I'll post it here on the blog in a few days.
It was so good to get back into writing after my break. It took me a while to get into full flow, but the world around the Priory – the town of Haven – is coming nicely into focus. The relationship between the new gods and the Prior is of most importance, but it's all told from the point of view of Chandra's sister, Anjuna.
As I've mentioned before, unlike the first story, Prior Enragement, The Gods in Haven is less of a standalone tale. It definitely has a beginning, middle, and end, but the conclusion serves to set up the novel that is to come. It also acts as a coda to Prior Enragement.
After I've posted the full story, I'll start planning the full novel, currently known as The Prior's War. In my head, it will be a four-part story – and I've already written part one. Chandra and Anjuna's stories will be interleaved across six chapters, setting up the plot of the main novel.
They'll need a little work to make them suitable, especially Chandra's, as it has to take Anjuna and the world of Haven into account. Those changes will be minor. It's proved to be a fascinating way to start a novel.
Once the planning is complete, I'll return with another blog post to set out what's coming. Soon. Well, soonish. There's a house move looming.
P.S. Tomorrow's the day when The Pantheon Triptych will start appearing on distribution channels other than Amazon. I'll put it in the end-of-year Smashwords sale as soon as it's live!