A Look Back on the Hardest Manuscript I’ve Ever Written

If you heard something that sounded like a big sigh of relief echoing across the horizon last night (Eastern Time), sorry. That was me.

What brought me such a great sense of ease? Why, finally penning the final words of my latest manuscript. Not only because that’s always a great achievement, but because this one really pushed me to my limit.

I Have Been to the Mountaintop

It’s one thing to write many words when the process is enjoyable. It’s another one entirely when you’re fighting yourself as much as the word count.

Sometimes, all it takes is forcing yourself to sit down and commit, and then the inspiration that first drove you to take on this project resurfaces. Other times, you have to stomach the possibility of putting down lackluster prose simply because the pressure will only mount if you don’t push forward, strangling your willpower to carry on as pressure morphs to anxiety.

Of course, there’s still plenty left to do. Editing, proofreading, publishing, and all the promotions that come after. But none of that can happen without the foundation. Can’t market a book you don’t have.

What really surprised me is that it wasn’t the sections you’d expect that gave me the most trouble. I had no issue dashing off the first chapter. The final three chapters that make up the book’s climax and ending were actually quite fun to write. Endings are typically the most challenging part, but having the finish line in sight reinvigorated my creative juices.

And it wasn’t for lack of ideas that I met these headwinds, either. I had a good sense of where this book was going and how to get there. But it was when I sat down to flesh it out beyond the unifying idea of each arc that I came up short.

Yet, in some of the most desperate moments, ingenuity overcame adversity. Whether it was inserting fake product placements, subverting expectations, or reintroducing prior characters, I often found a way to not only move forward but to make myself laugh in the process. Something that came so easily with the first Dick Winchester book.

A Necessary Evolution

But part of what helped me make it here was accepting that Book 2 and Book 1 are not the same. The narrative is evolving, and the humor, while still clear and present, is more muted at times.

It’s almost like the author woke up one day and realized he needed to introduce an actual plot versus creating three books of episodic adventures disguised as chapters.

Thanks to that revelation, the subject, content, and structure of Book 2 are quite different. And after A Bloody Business and The Opening Salvo, two books where the chapters started their lives as short stories unified by a common protagonist, perhaps that is another reason my mind rebelled. After all, it’s been years since I’ve been in true novel writing mode. Short stories have been my bread and butter.

I like to think this shift is the natural evolution of the story. To borrow my own words from the book’s Foreword:

After all, what noir doesn’t involve the hard-boiled private eye facing long odds and suffering some knocks in his quest for the truth?

So why shouldn’t the neo-noir parody do the same?

There are stakes now. Turns out Dick can’t run around shooting people and pissing off the powers that be without consequences, even if those consequences have been quite delayed in coming.

Lessons Learned to Bring the Trilogy Home

I’ve always been a big proponent of only writing when inspired, thus producing more inspired prose.

That works great—except when you’re on a timeline and you can’t always afford to wait for the spark to return. Especially since that spark may find you at all sorts of times inconvenient for writing.

And a big takeaway from Dick Winchester Book 2 is that sometimes the act of sitting myself down in front of my laptop is enough to help the spark along. Or it might take a paragraph or two before an idea occurs to me that redefines the chapter.

Regardless, action need not always follow inspiration. Often the other way around works just as well.

Still, the pressure I put on myself with the six-month publishing timeframe between each book almost certainly suppressed my inspiration.

So, I have given myself an even healthier nine-month window for Book 3. And even if I hadn’t struggled to produce words this time around, I still might have done this simply because, as I said before, endings are hard. To end a book is one thing. To end the whole trilogy on a satisfying note is a magnitude higher.

So, when you have the ability to set your own timelines, be realistic.

Especially since I’m still not sure what comes after this series. Do I return to Martin Williams and flesh out the half-formed idea of a “mid-quel” I have in the back of my mind? Do I finish out the Sci-Fi novella I have 2/3s written? Do I finish off the Tales of Ezok and package that off as a novella?

Does there even need to be a next project? Shouldn’t I let the dust settle around this series before I run off to promote something else?

Since Book 3 is now projected to publish December 2025, I certainly have some time to think through all of these questions.

And one final lesson from this drafting epic: you don’t have to write the same thing every time.

As I said, the different look and feel between Dick Winchester 1 and 2 threw my brain through a loop. At times, I feared those who loved Book 1 would be repulsed by Book 2.

But at the same time, fiction is about character growth. Maybe some people really want Dick Winchester to say a one-note caricature. However, he’s not that anymore. Not to me. He may have started off that way, but his character has evolved in my head just like the series.

So to ignore my own instincts for the sake of consistency would be inauthentic.

Besides, the episodic format would likely grow old after a while. Book 2 may be a welcome, plot-driven break.

And Book 3 may end up being a blend of both. Wouldn’t that be an interesting challenge…

If all of this talk of Dick has piqued your interest, I can’t think of a better intro to this character than Chapter 1 of Book 1, available right here on Vocal:

And keep an eye out for Book 1’s release on September 27!