You know, there are three kinds of books. There are books that just seem to fall out your ass (Hope Heals and The Reluctant Dom were such books) easy as in the plots are there, the characters are eager to drag you along, all you have to do is try to type fast enough to keep up with them. There are books that...well, need a little push, a little effort. They need some coaxing (or regular doses of mental fiber).
Then there are books that are the mental equivalent of trying to pass a concrete block.
Sideways.
Yeeeeaaahhhh.
Mentally, it's about the same kind of pain.
A Wolf in the Fold was that kind of book. I had the DAMN THING WRITTEN. I really did. But I didn't submit it, because I was like, hmm. Believe me, I am my own first and worst critique. If I'm not happy with a book, I don't submit it. It's not even that I wasn't "happy" with it, it's just the characters were sitting there, tapping their feet at me, and giving me dirty looks.
So I took a second look at it, and that's when the characters started talking up a storm at me, changing things, adding things. It came in over 120k words (more than double the original length). I ended up taking out a couple of plot points that I'd originally thought the focus was on, and have moved them into the next book. That's when Elain (the main focal heroine) really started to shine and her true story came out.
It's still sort of the same book it was before, only it's fuller and better. There were some minor things I really didn't pick up before that were brought out in the revision that once Elain started going down that road, I realized, yeah, that's the way this should be. I don't think I listened well enough the first time around.
You'll hear me and other writers joke about "the voices," but for me, yeah, that's kind of what it is. I "see" books as movies and write them. I tend to "view" the scenes several times, from several points of view, back and forth, rewinding it and fast-forwarding it until I'm happy with it and write it. In that process, I can filter through the extraneous and not write that. Most of the time, that works, the characters are happy with what I did, end of story (haha).
Not this time. This is why you should not be in a rush to submit (or self-publish) a book. Sometimes, books need a little percolating before they're ready. I'm not saying all books should take twenty years to write (*cough*Out of the Darkness*cough*) but you don't want to be tossing your NanoWriMo books up on Kindle by next week, either.
Anyhoo.
I hope if you're in the US you had a safe and happy Thanksgiving (or a good week if you're elsewhere).
My current WIP in the mental grinder is book 7 in my Suncoast Society BDSM series. I can tell you it's a MF, the hero is Det. William Thomas, who appeared as a minor character in Pinch Me, and that I'm 1.7k into it and already crying as I tried to summarize the plot to Hubby tonight.
Sooo...
Yeah.
(No, nobody dies, don't worry.)
I have warned him that if he hears crying, sniffling, wailing, whatever from my office that he is NOT to interrupt me. Actually, I'm very weird about that. I don't like to cry in front of him for writing-related stuff. (That's just me, not anything to do with him. Yes, I'm weird. I get that.) He was still working when I wrote The Reluctant Dom, so I either did the worst of it while he wasn't home, or after he went to bed. One night he got up at around 3 a.m. walked out and saw me sobbing and pounding away at my laptop, asked, "The Reluctant Dom?" I just nodded and he turned around and went back to bed. LOL I'm just very self-conscious about it when I write, I always have been. Laugh my ass off? Yes. Cry in front of someone while writing? I hate doing that.
I haven't settled on a title yet, but I'm strongly leaning toward Broken Toy, which relates to something the heroine says at one point, as well as relates to something that happens in the book. Not sure if that will be my final title or not. (Yes, I can write a book without settling on the title first. I've had books where I finally had to make myself come up with a title when it was time to submit it. LOL)
So that's where I'm at right now. Bleacke Shifters 2 (case in point, I'm still waffling on titles) is in edits. Yes, there will be a book 7 and beyond in my Triple Trouble series, at least 3 or 4 more books. And don't worry, I was looking at my idea notebook and I've got at least 12 good ideas for future Suncoast Society books, and I'm sure more will come to me. Will be working on more Good Will Ghost Hunting books since Ryan Ausar makes another small guest appearance in Triple Trouble 6 and it jump-started some stuff for that series.
What are you all up to lately? LOL
Okay, I love triple trouble, but DSMC has to be one of my favorites. Those stories spoke to me in a way that books hadn't for a while. Any chance that we will hear from Aaron, Caph, Ford and Em any time? Soon? :)