Project Undertow
π Writing a dystopian romance novel about hope and community.
This is a romance novel set in a futuristic apocalyptic England. I've been bouncing ideas around about this setting for years, but inspiration struck after I watched Yojimbo and realised the plot could revolve around a stranger arriving in a small town and getting sucked into its problems.
Other touchstones for me: Mad Max, Hot Fuzz, 28 Years Later and A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit. (But with more kissing.)
Milestones
- 2025-10-16: Started first draft.
Daily log
2026-01-24
1,113 new words today (88,213 total). Finished one of my unfinished chapters π₯³ That means I've got five half-done chapters to tidy up, and then a slightly woolly number of chapters still to write for the finale and conclusion... maybe four or five? I need to plan that out more.
Starting to feel like that finish line is in sight. I think I have less than 20,000 words left to go, which is exciting β all being well, this draft could be done within the fortnight. I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with myself once it's done. Take some time off from writing? Pivot back to Threshold again? Write some silly fanfic?
Overall, I am feeling a lot more positive about this draft right now than I was at the same point of the Threshold first draft. Like I know there are things I want to change about it, and I'm sure even more problems will fall out once I give it a good shake, but the bones generally feel right. I just need to stick that landing.
Hayley Williams' Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party remains my primary writing soundtrack for this draft. If "Hard" was one protagonist's theme song, the other one is definitely "Whim".
2026-01-23
1,117 new words today (87,100 total). All of this was actually a detailed outline for a big action-heavy sequence that I may or may not get stuck into tomorrow (please welcome Chapter 31 to the half-written chapter club). I think this may end up being the longest chapter in the whole book, but since it's the big dramatic one to smash into Act 3, I think that's fitting. I won't be satisfied with this chapter until I get at least one "oh shit!" out of anyone who reads it.
When writing action scenes, I like to do a point-by-point outline of all the events from start to finish within the draft itself, then flesh it out once I've got the main beats sorted. It feels easier for me to visualise it that way. This story's actually had a lot less action so far than I expected, but we will definitely ramp it up some more for the finale.
2026-01-22
1,546 new words today (85,983 total). After saying I needed to wrap up my half-finished chapters, I wrote half of another one instead. Oh well, I had fun.
2026-01-19
1,077 new words today (84,437 total). Another bitty-feeling day, but it's still a day. I am jumping around quite a lot at the moment just because I'm going for whatever makes it easiest to hit that 1k benchmark β Chapters 26, 28, 29 and 30 are all in various stages of completion. But if I can wrap those up and then do Chapter 31, that's the whole second act down.
Imagine if I did not have to be gainfully employed and could just write all day instead. lol rip
2026-01-18
1,085 new words today (83,360 total). Same situation as yesterday, really. But 1k's nothing to sniff at.
2026-01-17
1,089 new words today (82,275 total). The Boring Life Obligations really got in the way today but I still managed to fit in some writing time before dinner. A little frustrating because I'm really itching to write more and I feel like I could tear through these chapters if I had enough time, but I guess that's preferable to staring at a blank page having no idea what to do next.
2026-01-16
1,101 new words today (81,186 total). Getting into some really meaty stuff now, but I haven't had time to properly get stuck into it, and unfortunately this weekend is full of Boring Life Obligations. Boohoo poor me etc etc
2026-01-15
1,075 new words today (80,085 total). 80k! π Halfway through January and I think it's probably unlikely I'll finish the draft by the end of the month, but you never know. I know I should take a break once I'm done with it, but on the other hand I'm so excited for some of the second act revisions. I've got ideas!!
2026-01-13
1,222 new words today (79,010 total). Today I had to try to imagine how a semi-apocalyptic junk-built windmill might work. Let's just say I hope that if any engineers read this book, they are lenient with their expectations. 80k in sight...
2026-01-12
1,513 new words today (77,788 total). ANGST!!!
2026-01-11
1,212 new words today (76,275 total). Skipped a day (oops) but we crack on anyway.
2026-01-09
1,029 new words today (75,063 total). The angst is amping up.
Had more good ideas for second draft reworks today. A lot of them happily revolve around making a secondary character's life easier, because at the moment she is getting cancer, fighting off a dangerous blood infection and then almost bleeding out in a gunfight. Which, now that I list them all out, is probably a bit much for a few months' worth of events, especially if she's actually going to survive all of that.
Naturally, everyone else's lives will have to get worse to compensate.
2026-01-08
1,707 new words today (74,034 total). Pacing feeling a little wonky here, but I'll let it ride as I'm confident I can work it out in the second draft. I had a few ideas today for things that I want to change earlier in the book (it involves spite baking), but there's no point going back and doing it now.
Every chapter from now on is really going to keep ratcheting up the tension and I'm honestly so excited. It's time for mess!!!
2026-01-07
1,768 new words today (72,327 total). Going back and filling in my gaps today. I think writing ahead like that was actually helpful β maybe having a better idea of the story's destination makes it easier to take the right route.
I have also realised that the book is becoming longer than I'd aimed for. I'm probably about two-thirds of the way through the planned chapters, which means roughly 35k words left to go and a rough final length of 105k. Remember when I thought I was halfway through at 40k? lol.
All signs point to me killing off the unnecessary grandad/vicar beef (although god help me if I've somehow written 15k words of that). The second draft edit will be interesting. Some of these characters have turned out very different to how I originally envisioned them, so hopefully with clarity comes brevity. (Not in these log updates though. I like to ramble.)
I am still tossing around some sequel daydreaming. One of the leads in that is a secondary character in this, so figuring out his whole deal is still useful.
Also I listened to "Hard" by Hayley Williams a few dozen times today because I became convinced it was the perfect song to describe one of my protagonists. "Always ready for the piano to fall / Always ready to be left out in the cold". Yep, that's my girl!
I don't know if anyone else even reads this log but I want to say that I just love writing. Even if nobody ever reads the book, I really love writing it. I love coming up with these imaginary people and thinking about them all day and coming up with a little story for them to live in. I really am so happy I get to do this.
2026-01-06
2,577 new words today (70,599 total). Woo, 70k! Got very ahead of myself and wrote something nine chapters ahead of what I was meant to be writing, but hey, it worked.
2026-01-04
1,015 new words today (68,022 total). Mostly outlining the next few chapters with my new plan. I let myself jump around with the actual writing, just to get back into the groove a bit, so I've left quite a few gaps to fill in.
I am once again thinking of culling some secondary characters. There's this whole storyline about one protagonist's grandfather feuding with the vicar that might need to get in the bin. Actually the grandfather is causing me problems in general. Bloody troublesome grandad. I think fixing him might have to wait for the second draft.
2026-01-03
1,317 new words today (67,007 total). All the way into Chapter 23, and the primary villain actually appears on the page for the first time.
I'm making some changes to my plans for the rest of the second act, so I'll probably need to restructure some chapter outlines tomorrow. But I think it'll be for the best.
2026-01-02
1,793 new words today (65,690 total). Back to it after a fallow period over the holidays. This is fine. The work goes on.
2025-12-23
2,768 new words today (63,890 total). Had to skip yesterday but today I made up for it by writing an entire chapter, which I'm quite happy with.
The day off may have been a good thing as I rethought the events at the end of the second act a lot. I'd initially planned to have one of my protagonists do something pretty bad, but the more I think about it, the more I think the other protagonist would be unlikely to forgive her for it, even after she tries to redeem herself. Certainly the other characters would no longer want her around.
2025-12-21
1,118 new words today (61,122 total). The work goes on.
2025-12-20
1,389 new words today (60,004 total). 60k let's gooooo! πππ
I am now at the end of Chapter 20 and the real mess is about to start. I can't wait.
2025-12-19
123 new words today (58,615 total). See yesterday lol
2025-12-18
106 new words today (58,492 total). Had a no-good-very-bad 24 hours so I am literally doing the minimum to keep the momentum going. Oh well.
2025-12-17
1,169 new words today (58,386 total). I'm halfway through Chapter 18 now. If I can write something tomorrow, the current streak will hit two weeks.
2025-12-16
1,680 new words today (57,127 total). Back at the highest ever wordcount (having made up for the 5k cull last week).
There isn't a ton happening in this chapter, which makes me wonder if it might be a bit self-indulgent. But it has some nice moments and I think the characters' feelings need some space to develop. We'll see if it lasts.
I did some daydreaming about the sequel for this today. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself a bit here, but I guess I can always call it worldbuilding β while this story is very much staying in one place, the followup would be going all over the place. And I'd be taking one of the side characters from this book and sending them off on their own adventure, so I don't have to stress too much about an overarching plot. And as long as I keep up the work on this, a little daydreaming for the future can't hurt.
2025-12-15
1,119 new words today (55,537 total). Back over 55k! Most of this is outlining β I started late and didn't have much brainpower, so instead I just sketched out a lot of very rough dialogue and story beats. I tend to do that sort of stuff in the draft anyway and then it gradually bulks out into proper text. I feel like this chapter may be a bit of a drag anyway so I'll probably keep it short.
2025-12-14
2,179 new words today (54,418 total). Nice to be back on the blank page again after all the editing.
Another chapter down. I am ignoring the little voice that says that I can finish this by the end of the month if I just write 2k words a day every day. (I am trying to ignore the little voice.)
2025-12-13
1,012 new words today (52,239 total). RIP to the ~5k words I cut today. I was lying in bed last night thinking about the book instead of sleeping and suddenly a bunch of the puzzle pieces started to fit together (why is that always when the best ideas come?) so this afternoon I did some pretty heavy restructuring of all the bits I hadn't already reworked. Some of them got repurposed, but a lot of them did not. Had to be done!
The great news is that I think I am now done with this round of edits and can get on with finishing the rest of the draft. Which is exciting.
2025-12-12
649 new words today (56,591 total). Got distracted playing video games but still managed to rework Chapter 15. I am now almost 80% of the way through the partial draft I wanted to revise.
2025-12-11
1,321 new words today (56,072 total). Solid progress, and I managed it even though I had work AND had something else on in the evening AND cooked a proper dinner. Look at me go.
I wrote an entirely new scene today that I'm quite happy with and I think really fleshes out one protagonist's complicated relationship with his grandad, and also how he throws himself into worrying about other people's emotions instead of dealing with his own. So that's Chapter 14 down.
2025-12-10
2,000 new words today (54,963 total). Some wordcount wackiness from editing, but this was a productive day. I heavily reworked Chapter 13 and the central relationship's transition from mutual dislike to some kind of understanding is starting to feel more natural (or at least I hope it is).
I keep saying it but I feel so happy to be really getting back into this. I love just turning the story and the characters over in my head during the day like a mental fidget spinner. And it's nice to feel proud of something I'm working on again.
2025-12-09
363 new words today (53,293 total). Lots of editing today, plus ripping out some chunks of a scene that I'd moved to earlier in the book.
I'm up to Chapter 12 now in this round of edits, or what is now Chapter 12 β I've been merging quite a few of them together. My chapters were averaging about 2k words before and now they're more like 3k.
I've also ended up taking several moments that happened "off-screen" before and turning them into proper scenes, often incorporating the "reflection" bits that I was otherwise trying to strip out. I know the "show, don't tell" advice seems very obvious but it is definitely an improvement.
I think I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the existing wordcount, so in theory it won't be too long until I'm caught up and ready to progress the rest of the story. However I am planning to do a lot more chopping and restructuring for the next few chapters, since that's where the structural bloat from the POV problem was really setting in. But it's gonna work. I do think it's gonna work. We're getting there!
(Also, five days of writing! In a row! Are we back? If I can hit a week, I'm saying we're so back.)
2025-12-08
1,235 new words today (52,930 total). Not bad for a work day.
I have noticed that a lot of the sections I'm removing or reworking are short ones where the POV character reflects on recent events. I think these were a side effect of only switching perspective with the chapters, so I felt like I had to catch up with their thoughts on whatever had transpired. Stripping these out feels like I'm moving in the right direction.
2025-12-07
1,561 new words today (51,695 total). I'm not entirely sure how Scrivener's wordcount tracker works when I'm adding and removing large chunks of text, but oh well.
Really happy with my progress today. I'm partway through Chapter 10 with this round of edits and the pacing is definitely feeling tighter. I think some of the upcoming chapters will benefit from this process even more.
I also got a better idea for what I'm doing with a secondary character who I was struggling to find a role for, which is a relief. Turns out she works a lot better as a plucky teen than a bitter adult (I have too many of those already).
I am intentionally trying not to get bogged down too much in the nitty-gritty, so there are some problems I'm noticing but ignoring βΒ like the fact that I definitely need to tighten up the dialogue for one of my protagonists in particular. Her inner voice feels okay, but I haven't nailed her speech pattern in the way that I have for her counterpart. But that's the kind of thing that can wait for a later draft.
Overall, it's feeling like I am back on the horse. Fingers crossed I can keep it moving this week.
2025-12-06
538 new words today (50,538 total). Not a big wordcount increase, but a lot of editing and rewriting. I've fixed the draft up through Chapter 5 now and I think the new approach to persective shifting is working really well.
2025-12-05
1,569 new words today (50,000 total). If those counts don't line up, it's because I also deleted some old bits. Still, nice to hit the big 50k! π₯³
It's been another lull but I'm trying to get back onto this. Having a productive writing session leading into a fairly clear weekend makes me feel more optimistic. If I can get a few days of solid progress in a row then hopefully I can regain my rhythm.
2025-11-28
1,223 new words today (49,792 words total). I have rewritten my meetcute to be a fistfight.
2025-11-26
156 new words today (48,569 words total). Still editing and re-outlining. I made some changes to how an early confrontation plays out and now I must rethink all the ramifications. I forgot about the rammys bro
2025-11-25
113 new words today (48,413 words total). Wordcount doesn't really reflect the effort as I started reworking what I have of the first draft β call this Draft 1.5, I guess. So there's a lot of editing and restructuring.
The first chapter is done and the swapping between characters is already feeling a lot more natural. And it gave me the opportunity to better set up some character arcs and plot points with just a few minor tweaks. I am feeling optimistic.
2025-11-24
Yesterday I said I was going to try to complete the rest of the first draft with the new attitude towards switching perspectives, rather than go back and edit. Pretend it's already fixed and power through to the end, then go back and tidy it up later. Just get the first draft done.
Today, however, I am not thinking that'll work. There are now several things I want to fix, and I think writing the second half of the book will go a lot smoother if I've already got them nailed down.
- The alternating perspectives issue. I talked about this yesterday.
- Now that I know what the macguffin is, this has given me a better idea of some of the themes I want to lean on more closely, and so it makes sense to do a bit more setup and foreshadowing around that.
- Character bloat. This has been an issue in every longform work I've written β I start out with an idea of the characters I'm going to need, and then some of them end up seriously underutilised while I invent new characters to fill gaps in the story. The end result is a lot of side characters who only make fitful appearances in the narrative and aren't particularly memorable. Realistic for life, maybe, but from a storytelling perspective I'm better off combining and repurposing some of these people.
The question now is how to tackle this. I think the way forward is probably to back up what I've got, then rewrite the outline and map the chunks of the first draft that I want to keep onto it. This is what I was doing with my edits on Project Threshold, and even though I ended up pausing work on that, I feel like the process was sound.
Gonna be a lot of work. But then, isn't it always?
2025-11-23
Limited progress this week due to business and illness. I decided to take the week off actual writing and focus on doing some worldbuilding and plotting instead, which has been somewhat helpful. I finally worked out what the macguffin was, for example.
I had what was (hopefully) a bit of a breakthrough today. After trying to do some more detailed outlining, I realised that one of the things blocking my progress is my choice to only alternate perspectives by chapter. I have two POV characters, both of whom are keeping secrets from each other (and sometimes from the reader), and they've each been taking a chapter at a time, like A-B-A-B.
This mostly worked for the first half of the book, but increasingly, it's causing weird pacing issues. Like sometimes I need to write a single scene from a certain character's perspective, but then I have to fill out the rest of the chapter with some extraneous guff. Or I want to end a chapter with a mid-scene reveal, but then my strict alternating structure won't let me continue the scene in the next chapter, because the other character isn't present.
The last long work I finished switched perspectives mid-chapter and that worked well, so I'm not sure why I decided to be more rigid this time. It's just not working for me, or for the story.
I think my best option here is to abandon the alternating structure and just write the rest of the draft switching perspectives mid-chapter as I wish, then rewrite the first draft to match that afterwards. It's going to feel a bit disjointed, but that's what first drafts are for. And I think the improved pacing will definitely be worth it.
2025-11-16
1,022 words today (48,268 total). Had to take two more days off and splat goes the momentum. I suspect the next few days may also be fallow ones.
2025-11-13
2,240 words today (47,246 total). That's more like it. Quality wasn't the best and I might rewrite some of it tomorrow, but at least it feels like I'm starting to get my groove back.
2025-11-12
1,153 words today (45,006 total). I did not get back up to speed yet and I suspect the rest of the week will also be a bit patchy. Still, even if I'm not hitting the ridiculous paces I was a month ago, 1k is nothing to sniff at.
It probably doesn't help that the chapters I'm heading into aren't as well outlined as some of the previous ones. One of the conflicts I know needs to arise is currently just defined as "someone is an asshole" without any further specifics (and no, I still haven't worked out what my stupid macguffin is). I'm also trying to decide if I need to add some extra chapters for the sake of the pacing, but I guess I'll figure out if that feels necessary when I get to it. I don't want to overbloat the story, but at the same time I think the characters need a little more time to properly develop some messy feelings for each other, so maybe an extra 5k words for that won't hurt.
2025-11-11
1,181 words today (43,853 total). Back after almost two weeks off. It's a bit of a slower start, but I'm hoping to get back up to speed tomorrow.
2025-10-30
2,324 words today (42,672 total). Finished up the action scene and some of the ensuing drama. The last project I actually completed had a lot of action and I'd really gotten into a groove with writing it, but I think I'm a bit out of practice now. Oh well, something to revisit in the second draft.
2025-10-29
5,217 words today (40,348 total). Little bit of grinding today because I really wanted to hit that 40k at the two-week mark (ridiculous), but still some fun scenes to write as we reach the book's midpoint (including a kiss). I'm halfway through an action scene right now but am forcing myself to park it so I can get to bed before midnight.
Half a first draft in a fortnight. WTF.
2025-10-28
94 words today (35,134 total). The hot streak had to break some time β too much else going on today! I'll make up for it tomorrow...
2025-10-27
3,615 words today (35,040 total). Solid work for a work night. All being well, I'll be hitting 40k words by the two-week mark β the pace at which this book is coming together still seems ridiculous to me, but I'm definitely not mad about it. I've got the next three or four chapters outlined now too so that'll help keep up the pace.
Soon I'm going to have to take an enforced break from writing to do something else for a week, and the something else should be really fun, but I still feel sad about having to hit pause on this! I would really love to at least get through the next three chapters before then, because there's some juicy stuff in there that I can't wait to write.
2025-10-26
2,036 words today (31,425 total). Tidied up my partial scene from yesterday and finished the following chapter too. I'm starting to hit a part of the story that I haven't fleshed out quite as much as the earlier parts, so progress is slowing slightly.
Also, there's not enough yearning for my liking. I've really gotta start turning that dial up as we get further into Act 2.
2025-10-25
2,367 words today (29,389 total). Part of me was hoping to crack 30k but I just had too much on today, and this is still more than respectable. I did skip part of a scene since I haven't worked out some of the details of the B-plot yet, so I'll need to try to fill that in sooner rather than later. (The "Mr Brightside" scene was just as fun to write as I'd expected though!)
2025-10-24
3,010 words today (27,020 total). I'm just having so much fun writing at the moment. Had to force myself to stop and post a wordcount now so I don't stay up all night working on this. But they're about to experience an emotional breakthrough through one of them trying to explain why they hate "Mr Brightside" and I just really want to see how that conversation goes!!!
2025-10-23
2,658 words today (24,010 total). Wrote some good bickering today. Both of these characters are predisposed to dislike each other based on past experience, and right now they're really rubbing each other the wrong way. That'll start to change soon enough, but right now I'm enjoying the arguments.
I still have not figured out the identity of the macguffin.
2025-10-22
5,895 words today (21,352 total). I don't know what to say except what the fuck lmao??? That's like 25% of the book done in a single week. I've never written this fast in my life. Move over, 1980s cokehead Stephen King, you ain't got shit on me and my hyperfocus.
Anyway the first act is officially done and I'm making a start on the second. I do need to hit the pause button at some point and figure out a few plot details, especially around a particular macguffin, but right now things are seriously cooking and I'm really excited to keep cracking on.
2025-10-21
2,599 words today (15,457 total). The ADHD is really working in my favour at the moment Β―\_(γ)_/Β― I am already starting to hit the point where I think of things I want to change in previous chapters, but for now I'm just making a note of it and plowing forward. Only two chapters of the first act left to go!
2025-10-20
2,390 words today (12,858 total). Still on the chapter-a-day streak. I cannot be contained. And one character is already feeling responsible for another one almost dying, so that's always fun.
2025-10-19
2,225 words today (10,468 total). Writing a chapter a day probably isn't sustainable, but it sure is fun.
2025-10-18
2,059 words today (8,243 total). Chapter 4 is done. These chapters are shorter than I'd normally write, but I'm trying to keep the pace tight, and also trying to account for my tendency to bloat the wordcount in later drafts. If I decide I want to add more to them later on, there should be room for it. On the other hand, I am enjoying how relatively streamlined this story is so far β I was juggling a lot of different plot threads on the other book and it was starting to feel overwhelming. Right now, this one's feeling lean and mean.
I'm also giving the enemies-to-lovers trope a go for the first time and that "I hate this person so much that I can't stop thinking about them" dynamic really is so much fun to write.
2025-10-17
1,672 words today (6,184 total). Another chapter down, mostly verbal sparring. The outline is serving me well so far and the dynamic between these characters is fun to write.
2025-10-16
I wrote 4,512 words today, which is a hell of a solid start by my standards and arguably 5% of the book. I very much doubt I will keep this pace up, but it's fun to get stuck in and start really finding the characters' voices and the substance of the world. I like outlining, but some things about a story can't be discovered until I'm actually in the thick of it.
As well as several character introductions, I also got to write some scene-setting, a brief fight scene and a rather painful meet-cute. Good variety.
2025-10-15
After writing an outline of the plot, I've decided to start the first draft tomorrow. It does mean parking an existing book project that's further along, but I need a break from it.
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