I'm kicking off Nikki Owen's The Killing Files Blog Tour today. I'm delighted to welcome Nikki to my blog to talk about Writing a Trilogy. Her latest novel The Killing Files (the second part of The Project Trilogy) is published by Mira today (2 June 2016).
The thing with writing a trilogy is it just
never leaves your head. It’s different to a standalone book. Standalone books
you can, like a lover you’ve grown tired of, leave, walk away from, shut the
door and never come back. But a trilogy? It’s like a lover you’ve had a child
with and so, no matter what you do, there’s always a connection, always a tug
and a tie (but, thankfully, in a good way.)
I never set out, initially, to write a trilogy.
I’d read many of them, mainly YA: The
Hunger Games, The Divergent
series, and (don’t judge me), um, The Twilight
series (oh, who am I kidding: I LOVED Twilight.
FYI: I’m Team Edward.) Anyway, it wasn’t until I got writing what is now the Project trilogy that the concept of actually
writing one myself began to become a real possibility. I’d read Stieg Larsson’s
epic Millennium trilogy and admired
not only his amazing and original kick-ass heroine, Lisbeth Salander (which my protagonist,
Dr Maria Martinez has been likened too), but truly was agog at his skill to
plot, to create believable, 3-D characters and to go to a level of researched,
intricate detail in the narrative that just blew my mind. I read it and I thought to myself, ‘Nope. I
can’t do that.’ But, thing is, if myself or someone else tells me I can’t do
something, or says, with grave reality, that I have no chance, then I am on it.
I mean, seriously, I am a woman with a mission focused on proving everyone
wrong.
And so that’s how I found myself knee deep
in a trilogy of my own, giving it a shot. Don’t get me wrong though – it’s been
tough. The plotting alone messed with my head sometimes – the multiple story
lines, the complex characters, the way I had to, through it all, ensure that
all the tiny details I described of Maria’s Asperger’s were accurate and true.
I felt – quite rightly – a deep responsibility to the female Aspie community to
get it spot on, to do them justice and represent them fairly, as real people,
with real thoughts and emotions.
The way I’ve planned the trilogy over the last
two/three years of writing has evolved. The first book was written with major pen
and notebook assistance (much like Maria’s notebook, funnily enough – she likes
notebooks A LOT). The second novel planning in the series I did in a more
methodical manner: a full on spreadsheet motherboard tracing every single plot
line and character development for each scene. It worked to a point, but when I
forgot to look at it, my writing would go off piste – although this actually turned
out to be a good thing and created new ideas I hadn’t planned for. I’m
finishing book three of the trilogy now (no title as yet) and I think, finally,
I have found my groove when it comes to planning. See, while I like to plan (I
used to be an advertising agency brand planner) I’m also a creative, and by
creative, I mean I daydream, and daydreaming often brings out ideas no amount
of planning can predict. So I now find the best way that works for me is to
plan a chapter, then write it, then plan the next one, then write it and so on.
Especially with a huge, epic story arc of a trilogy, this method seems to fit
my brain best on balancing my planning gene with my wandering creative one.
So there you go, writing a trilogy is a
labour of love. And laughs. And (lots of) tears. A love that, despite its ups
and downs, endures and stays in your head and, try as you might, never leaves.
And that’s just the way I like it.
Nikki Owen is an award-winning freelance
writer and columnist currently based in Gloucestershire.
Previously, Nikki was a marketing
consultant and University teaching fellow before turning to writing full time.
As part of her degree, she studied at the acclaimed University of Salamanca –
the same city where her protagonist of the Project trilogy, Dr Maria
Martinez, hails from.
You can find out more about Nikki Owen on her website. Follow Nikki Owen on Twitter -
@NikkiWriter
The Killing Files
By Nikki Owen
Published by Mira (2 June 2016)
ISBN: 978-1848454415
Publisher's description
What to believe
Who to betray
When to run…
Plastic surgeon Dr Maria Martinez has
Asperger’s. Convicted of killing a priest, she is alone, in prison and has no memory
of the murder.
DNA evidence places Maria at the scene of
the crime, yet she claims she’s innocent. Then she starts to remember…
A strange room. Strange people. Being
watched.
As Maria gets closer to the truth she is
drawn into a web of international intrigue and must fight not only to clear her
name but to remain alive.
My review is coming VERY SOON.
Find the book on Amazon UK by clicking here.
For my review of the first book in the series - Subject 375 (originally called The Spider in the Corner of the Room), click here. To discover why the book changed its name, click here.
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