Takedown Behind-The-Scenes Concept

2009:

Initial inception, based on Lamont fleeing the country and Shorty taking over the crew. Generally dealt with a destruction of his personal relationships and his attempts to co-exist with Delroy.
A shooter named Tanka is on the rise, trying to kidnap dealers in an attempt to extort them. The book remained unfinished.

2009/2010:

Similar concept as above, with the addition of another protagonist, Lennox Thompson. Lennox was a tough criminal with a ruthless background, who specialised in moving guns, heroin and weed in large quantities. Lennox had a younger brother named Quentin whom he doted on, and a mother that he idolised.
The story never took off, but dealt with Shorty attempting to take over the streets, and Quentin’s attempts to get out from his brothers shadow.

2010 -2013:

Total direction change. Removed Lennox from the equation and went with Shorty as the protagonist. He took over from Lamont and established himself as the dominant power. Delroy was wary, one of his team jumped the gun and attempted to take out Shorty, but clipped his daughter instead. Shorty ended up getting arrested.
I worked Marrion Bernette into the version, with him wanting revenge against shorty and Lamont for the deaths of his friends.
Multiple deaths and a lot of behind-the-scenes drama. Teased the concept of a female assassin named Lisa.
These concepts had potential, but the story didn’t have enough in the middle to lead it through. It felt muddy and disjointed and simply led to me writing myself into a corner multiple times.

When I went back to the drawing board and reworked Target, the old versions of Takedown were completely abandoned. The versions weren’t sustainable. I decided target would be a stand-alone novel and abandoned the idea of writing a sequel.

2015 – 2017

Having completely revamped Target, I began looking into marketing and publishing. Research showed that sequels and series’ tended to attract a bigger audience, so before the manuscript for Target was sent to a proof-reader, I rewrote the ending, tying in a sequel that I had not yet written.
I tried using a similar concept to the one I’d used to finish Target, namely laying down each scene in a notepad, so that everything was pre-written, allowing me to know exactly what was going on at any particular time. I was able to see how each scene connected, which avoided any plot-holes.
Influenced by my research, which showed books needed to be written quickly, I used a simple point-by-point outline, with no great detail. The outline had thirty or so points, or scenarios, and I just wrote them.

When I’d written them, they didn’t make me feel anything. I felt pleased by several of the scenes, but there were no connectors; nothing pulling the scenes together that would make readers want to turn the page. I didn’t read the scenes and gain any sudden clarity about how to finish.
I moved onto other projects and avoided the idea until 2016, where I started working on the project again shortly after finishing Target. I added multiple scenes that helped with character development, but didn’t help me finish. I had characters that I wasn’t sure where to take. I wanted to do all of these little things and I was pulling myself in different directions. I was throwing ideas at the wall but nothing was sticking. Every time I sat down to work on Takedown, there was no discipline. I didn’t want to do it.

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to write, but no idea of how to get there.

Consequently, I distracted myself, read more, considered giving up publishing altogether and writing fun, went through writer’s block, and then I dusted myself off.
People helped. My friend created a plan to work towards and I analysed the tasks and what I needed to do with each one to complete it.

It simplified things. Seeing what I had to do for each task seemed to make it easier. I looked at my disastrous launch in 2016 and how I could do better. I completed Homecoming, edited and formatted Target. I finished several projects I’d had on the shelf for three years, set myself some long-term goals, and got to work.
My confidence increased. I read my work and enjoyed it. It felt tighter, with more finesse and purpose. Less words, more meaning.

August 2018 – Now:

I changed my mind and decided that I would change the order of the plan and finish Takedown, with the aim being to release it in December. I had a plan in place that I’d utilised over the summer:

Each scenario was written on a separate document card. I then placed the cards in a way I could easily refer to them, then wrote a detailed scene by scene outline of each area of plot. I reworked my thinking, inspired by Thanos’s role in Infinity War. I wanted to create a believable antagonist.

I thought about what I wanted to see in a villain and more importantly, how the villain would play against Lamont and the others, who aren’t innocent themselves.
I brought Lennox back from obscurity and tidied him up. He wasn’t just some angry drug dealer anymore. He was a cold-hearted criminal with a master plan. He had a purpose and more importantly, he felt he was totally justified in his actions. He felt like he was the good guy. I added social issues, but that was background plot.

Takedown is a continuation of how my Target characters are navigating life.

I started writing and quickly decided that I would power through it. I have a tendency to self-edit and let work breathe and basically give myself every opportunity to get out of writing, but I stuck to my written scenes and started writing. I powered through them and got a lot of work done, but after several chapters, I wasn’t motivated. What I was writing looked like trash. I stopped writing it in October 2018 and decided I would put out some other work first to build up to the sequel.

I re-read it over Christmas that year, and loved it. I felt like I was on the right tracks and that the story worked. I loved the characters and their struggles and Lennox fit into the proceedings. To me, Takedown was proof that I loved my story. It was proof I had figured out what I wanted to say just through trial and error and learning and putting things into practice.

With this new momentum, I finished Takedown very quickly into the new year.

Now, here we are. It’s November 2019, almost a full year since I’d ‘given up again’, and I’m sitting on top of multiple finished pieces. Takedown will always remain one of my greatest triumphs though; a ten-year journey to get me here.

This is why I write.

Target Part 2: The Takedown is out this Friday. Click this link to Pre-Order.