Five Cats and Five Movements - My Next Publication

My goal for this week (October 21) and possibly the following week is to complete a final edit of Five Cats and Five Movements. This novel is another that has been a long time coming. It was first drafted in 2017 in my spare time, pretty much as an exercise in improvisation and stream of consciousness writing. It was written primarily by "pantsing," i.e., writing by the seat of my pants with very little plotting beforehand. Consequently, each chapter was as much of an adventure for me as it was for the story's protagonist. It evolved from a horror tale in the vein of Edgar Allen Poe to dark fantasy closer to American Gods. (Two stories by Cormac McCarthy were also big influences - Blood Meridian and The Road, which is why the protagonist remains nameless during his boyhood).

The initial name for the story was The Cheshire Cat Clock. Over time, the title changed to The Evolution of Netcher's Child, then to Four Cats and the Netcher's Child, and finally to Five Cats and Five Movements. The "Movements" reflect both the changes in the protagonist's mindset as he grows from a preschooler to an adult and the corresponding changes in the narrative tone. In some ways, the story is also an allegory of my own growth from childhood to adulthood, but I suppose all writers inject at least a bit of themselves into their stories.

Another evolution involved both my writing skill and style. Like most writers, I wince when reading my early efforts. Five Cats and Five Movements was no exception, but after numerous writing courses and workshops and hundreds of critique group sessions (not to mention onerous weeks of gaining Photoshop knowledge for the book cover and Wix proficiency for this website), I have a product that I'll soon be happy to share. So, after eight years and more than five-hundred pages, the end is near.