I could kiss a frog. That must spell something good… I had one of those moments today. A special moment. Like the first time I mixed two records together and I knew, so knew where my future lay…

Goosebumps, inside and out.

I now know the story I am truly writing. I only wished I had trusted my intuition in the first place. I guess I wanted to please someone out there, probably all those imagined agents hidden among the unconscious shadows.

So what it is it I am essentially writing? A story about a DJ who is running from a past she doesn’t know about, drowning herself and her history in music, and ironically it will be this and all the associated conflicts (losing her record box, a stalker among other things) that will bring her full circle, revealing a dark, disturbing memory, re-uniting her with her truth. I had originally positioned the missing records as the center piece of the story, now it’s relegated to subplot. A subtle switch. But it’s brought the story alive. It’s really opened the curtains on the main protagonist – I can really see her now.

I’m writing a literary commercial crossover – a dark, urban mystery.

This, I think, is where Four Gigs sits commercially.

I thought I was writing a kind of thriller. But if I’m honest, I don’t feel comfortable in page turner territory – it’s not my writing style or genre closest to my heart. I’m just not feeling the uber fast paced writing.

How exactly did I arrive at this? I saw a wonderful book doctor today at The Writers Festival.

Like the agent yesterday, she was unsure about the genre of Four Gigs. So she picked a few key things from my synopsis. Was the story about this? Or really about that?

And then I knew.

She also gave me some wonderfully heartwarming feedback on my writing….

‘Very strong narrative voice.’
‘Prose and rhythm – fits subject and content.’
‘Mature and confident.’

(I’m aiming for a lyrical, urban voice)

And she advised me to scrap the prologue (it was only 500 words anyway) and incorporate it into the first chapter. In her words, if I do this, and the prologue becomes the first words of chapter one, ‘it will have agents salivating.’ Feedback doesn’t get better than that…

…Now I’m salivating.

I’m so eager to get the first draft finished, weave magic into the subsequent edits.

I’m genuinely very excited – I’ve already started making notes on the next draft…