Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Second and Third Novels

     Well, it certainly has been a while since I have blogged anything at all. But I am happy to say I have gone through the first edits on my second novel. This novel is about a serial killer who stalks a family. Then the wife and oldest son are kidnapped by the serial killer.
     I had first titled this second novel An Awakening. But I have now changed the title to You Are Mine. The editor I have found has given me a lot of good tips and suggestions. I have incorporated most of them into the changes and love the story more now. I tend to keep things short and sweet. Which does not really work when one is writing. So I added more content. I have a struggle with showing and not telling but I think it has come together really nicely now. I wanted to show that the Collins family are Christians. I wanted to show how their faith keeps them strong through their ordeal. But I did not want to get really heavy handed with the Christian aspect. I would like to be able to reach out to not only Christians but non believers. I have sent my book back to my editor to go through the changes.
     Then I am really not sure what my next steps will be. Should I do the self publishing route? Or should I try to find an agent? I will be attending the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer's Conference in May where I could try to talk to an agent. I am still undecided about all of this. Thankfully I have recently joined a number of writer's groups in my area and will be able to think about this with other writers.
     Now while I am waiting for the second edits on this second book, I have begun work on a totally different novel. It is a ghost story. It is about a Christian woman and her daughter who move into a haunted house. The woman's friend, husband and daughter move in with them. I have watched a lot of ghost stories and wanted to show how a Christian person will deal with something like this. I am debating about how far to take the hauntings but I am just on the second chapter of this book.
     While I was going through the edits on the second book, I had already started work on the book that will continue in this series. It was through the edits that made me decide to split this third book into two novels. The one book will deal with the Collins family and the Grifton family meeting and helping each other through the healing process of what happened to them in the earlier books. The other book will then continue with Rachel Grifton becoming an archaeologist and going on digs to find artifacts from the Bible.
     So I have my work cut out for me. Now I just need to buckle down and write. Which I will do. Later today.