How long is long enough?

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What prompted this question was a comment made by a reviewer recently about my Mystic Mountains. This reviewer gave the book a much-appreciated five star rating but said, “I felt it was a bit over drawn in length.” This surprised me, as at 304 pages it is not overly long for a historical.

Asking a writer how long their book is going to be, or should be, is like asking the age-old conundrum, “How long is a piece of string?”

I envisioned a very different ending for Challenging Mountains, my recent release, where Tim’s family would have a get-together, but then as I drew near the final scene it told me that was enough and that is where I should sensibly leave my characters. Publishers have certain rules about the length expected for each genre and most contemporary stories are termed as ‘quick reads’ I guess, and Historicals and Time-Travels are expected to be longer.

One benefit of writing a series, especially one containing members of one family or clan, is that you can always catch up in the next book with characters you have taken a fancy to or hope those you disliked would have a not so happy ending. I fully intended Challenging Mountains to be the final book in my Settlers series, but as happens often with us writers, one of the characters started to play with my mind and insist I write her story next. Because Tiger and Bella (Book 1, Mystic Mountains) ended up with eight offspring I could be stuck with this family heckling me until I am in my dotage (which I fear is not too far away).

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The birth of a book in a writer’s head—Tricia McGill

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For the past few weeks I might have been getting on with life here in the present, but my mind has been dwelling way back in the past, as research takes over my life once again. For some time people have been asking me when I am going to write a third book in my Settlers series. The early pioneering days in Australia seem to capture the imagination of almost as many folk as the early days of settlement in America. I guess most of my fellow writers are just like me, and can only work out what book to work on next by the voices in our heads urging us to get cracking and get their story down.

For me I have always needed to know who the main characters are going to be, which means finding out from those pesky voices who wants to be the leads. For the hero I had a few choices this time. There was always Carlo O’Shea, brother of Remy (Book 2) and Bella (Book 1), who arrived in the settlement of Sydney Town in the 1820s, or their younger brother Bob, who came out as a free settler later on. Bella and Tiger ended up with eight children so any one of them could be the main character. At one stage I thought of sending Remy or Carlos back to Spain to trace their father’s heritage, but no, my mind refused to leave Australia and decided to force me to remain here and entrench myself back into its past. I guess, in the end, the best and only choice of hero had to be Tim, Bella and Tiger’s eldest son. I was there at his birth so know him well. After all, I created him, know exactly where and when he was conceived and know his parents inside out.

Problem number one fixed, now the female lead must tell me who and what she wants to be. That has been trickier. The story will begin in 1840 when Tim is 21. Unlike his ex-convict father, mother, and uncles, Tim was born free. The Australian continent has changed considerably in the past 15-20 years. Explorers have ventured further inland, forging new roads to traverse, finding new rivers that need bridges built across them. This means a new set of research for me the writer. New South Wales has a different Governor, rules have changed. Port Philip that will become Melbourne is a fledgling city. Travellers are setting off across the country in search of new pastures for their sheep and new lands to claim as their own.

Tim was a small child when his father, Tiger, decided to embark on the tremendous trek across the Blue Mountains with Bella and Tim to set up a sheep property on green pastures around Bathurst so it is inevitable that Tim will have inherited itchy feet—but which direction will he take, and why? And the woman who travels with him will be feisty and a tomboy, I know that much by now. No wilting, tittering, blushing damsel in distress for Tim, she must be his match. Only one small drawback by this time—she simply will not let me know her name—yet. It will probably come to me around five am as many of my other ideas do. Mistress Muse seems to work the best around that hour when I am half-awake. Oh, and there’s just one other small thing missing—a suitable title.

I look forward to my next journey of discovery.

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