The first drafts of most of my books developed pretty naturally, the plots evolving relatively easily under my fingers as I typed. Later drafts were usually much more challenging, as I tried to improve the text in various ways – making new characters more credible, adding action where needed and so on. Those challenges were often daunting and sometimes gave me fits.

This was particularly true with my last book, due to the fact that I adopted a particularly abstract technical backdrop – blockchain – and because I decided on an including a antagonist who was suffering from mental illness. The first decision made it challenging to add action and tension, and the second made the construction of a believable character daunting – credibly describing insanity is very difficult indeed.

Next time around, I vowed, I would make life easier for myself. In Book Six, if there was to be a Book Six, I would come up with a clear, simple, plot line that would make the task of writing the book a breeze.

Except, if course, it didn’t turn out that way. I did come up with what I think is a great plot line, but ab sent additional plot twists the action will occur mostly at the end of the book, and readers don’t like to wait that long for things to pop. And then other gremlins began to creep out of the plot machinery, such as temptations to add subplots that seemed appealing but then proved to be very non-cooperative in practice. All of which has led to perhaps my worst case of writer’s block to date.

But – half of the first draft is complete, and I’ve decided to take the plunge (a/k/a trapping myself) and start posting chapters here for those that might be interested in following the evolution of the book – and better yet, offering their thoughts, critiques and suggestions along the way. If you decide to provide the latter, I would be most grateful, and will also thank you in print in the acknowledgements section of the final product.

That said, keep one caution in mind: final drafts usually bear only a rough resemblance to first ones. In my case, I will almost always add new characters, new subplots, and new twists in successive drafts as new ideas occur to me and weaknesses demand correction. Even along the way in the first draft, I’ll make decisions that require me to re-write earlier chapters you will already have read. So – those who are interested in watching the writing process evolve, seeing how decisions are made, and then reading the final book from start to finish to see what has changed, should enjoy the ride. Others may want to wait for the published version.

As in previous outings, I’ll often add some comments on new chapters as I post them, explaining why I’ve done something one way and not another, how the plot ties in to other things going on in the world, and so on.

So, here we go. After I post this, I’ll load the Prologue and first chapter of Book Six, tentatively titled The Argosy Adventure. Look for new chapters every week thereafter until the first draft is complete.