Does TDE have an outline?

Good news - chapter 4 (at nearly 10,000 words) is now written. I need to read through again and do some edits but I will be posting the resulting draft this coming weekend.

I've been asked several times now if TDE has an outline, as TMEA grew 'organically' towards an end that moved around a bit as the book progressed.

TDE is a bit different. It's Col's story from when she disappeared from Will's and Lili's lives early in the summer term of 1964 and it necessarily has to link up with Will in Leipzig in August 1970 - both of these moments are locked in space and time in TMEA.

So I started TDE with these points and played around with ideas that would keep Will and Col apart for those six years (again, locked in by TMEA), even if they were trying to find each other. Much of this was set up in part in the last chapters of TMEA by killing off Lili as were she still around, Col could use her to contact Will. I did not like doing that, but I could not see a way round that problem. Similarly, Will's family had to fracture and move from Herne Bay so Col could not find him there or track him from there.

Finally, I had to move Col and Mutti Frida out of England and require them to remain hidden to escape Col's father. This would give time for Will's track to go cold and for the deeper development of Col's character.  Mrs Henderson's use of Col and Mutti Frida as bait to smoke out a large part of the eastern Block agent network set that up as they had to run and hide. Sending them to Australia was a no-brainer as I have lived there (mostly) for decades (apart from three years in Silicon Valley). Then there's the collapse of the Eastern Block in August 1968 (in this alternate world established by TMEA) which must impact on Mutti and Col.

These events create the barest of bones on which TDE is growing and a more complete skeleton is almost finished (there are still a couple of vague spots that are not yet fully in focus).  However, I expect that during the writing process things will happen and characters will wrench things in unexpected directions, changing things as a result, but the story still has to thread the needle through the events set by TMEA.

I hope this answers the question - more detail would provide spoilers which I want to avoid as you experience TDE for the first time.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me - and please use the Discord channels to provide me with feedback.

Take care of you and yours in these strange and difficult times,

Iskander