What started out as an idea for a story has, very quickly, turned into a full on project. I had the idea for a story that I thought would be shorter than a novel, but too long for a short story. A novella, if you will.

If you follow my Twitter/Facebook, you’ll probably know that I am both working on a full length novel, and that I throw out short stories at fairly regular intervals. The thing about novels is, they take a long time to write. At least, to write well, which I hope I’m doing. The thing about short stories they don’t get put into book form (not by themselves, at least). The thing about me is that, ever since I began these foolish aspirations of authordom, I’ve wanted to hold a physical book with my name on the front and my writing inside.

I refuse to rush my novel. I intend to fool a traditional publishing house into selling it for me, and they won’t say yes to a rushed novel. So, I’m impatient. What are my options. Well, luckily, in this digital age, I could self-publish some of my work. I toyed with the idea of an anthology of all my short stories, but I the stories differ too much in genre to all go into one volume.

Enter this project.

At an estimated novella length, it would short enough to be done before Christmas (2011), but long enough to warrant it’s own paperback volume. I talked to a few people about the idea, and before I was 10,000 words into the first draft, I had three potential beta and possible (very talented) cover illustrator lined up! So this is happening. Although it may be a tad longer than a novella.

The point to this post? Unlike most of my writing, I’ve actually planned this story out (I usually make it up as I go along), so I know what’s going to happen. And, now that I’m about half way done, I’m fairly confident that the story isn’t going to stray much from the plan in my head. So, for those that are interested, and those that are kind enough to have agreed to help in some way, I thought I’d post this tentative blurb;

The last thing Tom Keighley remembered was nearly being hit by a car one grey, wet, Monday morning.

That was nearly a hundred years ago.

When he is plucked from a strange contraption in a mysterious building in the middle of nowhere, Tom is thrown into the tiny world of Charles Brook, the last beacon of humanity known to exist in the world. Tom must find his place in the Brook, a village where the streets are so narrow, your shoulders touch the walls. A place where only the well armed or foolish go outside at night.

A place where the high, thick wooden walls keep out the dead.

The plan for this novel/novella is that it will be self-published in paperback, published for a cheap, cheap price on as many eBook platforms as I can get it on, and made available for free through my own website. That way, if you want to give me money, you can, but you don’t have to. There are also plans for an audio version, but that’s not definite; I’ll be doing the reading, and I have a strong suspicion that I will get ten minutes in, hate my voice and decide against it, but we’ll see.

As mentioned above, three people (the only three I’ve asked so far, that’s a good return rate!) have agreed to beta read this work, and I thank them for that. If you are reading this (and are not one of the three), and would also like to beta read (which, if you’re not sure, means to read the story before it’s officially released and tell me what’s wrong with it!) then, by all means, let me know. Either in the comments here or @beagrie on twitter.