Ooh boy, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Let’s talk about that.

Last we talked, I had just received the first draft of my manuscript for “Closer Than Family” back from an editor. After careful review of those notes, I elected to start from scratch on an entirely new draft, and that is what I have been doing most of the last HOLY SHIT FOUR YEARS.

It hasn’t always been easy–actually that’s a bit of an understatement. At NO point has it been easy. However, I have now completed (it is not FINISHED, needs editing, etc.) the SECOND draft, which I believe substantially improves the narrative, and is significantly tighter besides. It’s comparable in word count, though I generated a significant excess of material between the two drafts, so while the manuscript itself is a little less than 70,000 words, between the first draft and all the other stuff I wrote for one reason or another, I actually produced around 170,00 words while writing Closer Than Family.

There were things I envisioned happening when I started writing what would become “Tamed Hearts”, and… A lot of them have not happened. Cassie and Aaron were supposed to get stuck in the cage together. There was supposed to be a scene at Lake Nydell (which I have an art piece of, that I think I’ve even posted here–don’t commission art before your manuscript is finalized, kids), I initially envisioned a police investigation as part of the plot. But on the other hand, until it happened, I never planned for Drake to… Well, you’ll just have to see.

So what has taken so long?

Aside from writing way, WAY more than I needed to (or indeed, should have), I also wrote a TERRIBLE climax into the first draft, which was what necessitated starting from scratch on the second. I had “character moments” in mind that I wanted to happen, and that was my main concern. Is it ‘tense’ if the heroes have no choice but to wait an event out, essentially hiding? Maybe, but tension in a narrative needs to be resolved, not just dissipated, and the protagonists must take an active role in resolving it, or they’re not protagonists, but bystanders. This was a change that needed to happen, but changing the climax pretty much forced me to change the rest of the story too.

Also, putting a major antagonist character in the hospital will make it difficult to create conflict. But I COULD NOT envision Drake not doing something that (frankly) was incredibly stupid, so he was sure to land himself in the hospital or police custody in relatively short order, which makes a conflict difficult.

This is where the new character of Matthew came in. In the first, draft, he provided an ‘outsider perspective’. He was meant to be an example of what might happen to someone Drake had bitten. After several revisions, he has become more important to the narrative, acting as a kind of unwitting double agent. He is Drake’s therapist (if not a particularly dedicated one), and Drake talks him into causing trouble for Our Heroes, while Becky uses him to figure out where Drake is. His antagonistic behavior comes from selfish motives, which Drake manipulates. Later in the narrative, it’s almost entirely spite. It’s been a challenge to make Matt genuinely threatening, and I’m still not sure I’m there. I expect that to be one of the things I have to improve in editing.

So what now?

Editing is often called ‘the hard part’ but I cannot imagine that being true in this case, since the raw manuscript has taken so long to produce. Any changes have to be easier than that. I plan to read through at least twice to add some ‘polish’ before I reach out to someone who has kindly volunteered to edit. Then I need artwork and design for a cover. I do not (unfortunately) expect to be finished by the Renaissance Festival. On the other hand, I hope and plan to have stock by the August event (the Cheval Court). I am resolved to publish by the end of the year, come what may.

And what comes after that?

Well gee, aren’t you demanding? I have promised myself that once I publish, I can take the rest of the year off from ‘serious’ writing. (I may do some ‘work’ but I’m not putting myself back ‘on the clock’ until at least January 2025, maybe later.) As you may remember, I have been thinking about Silver Angels Book 3: Hellhound for a long time, I even have two not terribly interesting chapters (that will probably be scrapped) written. The plan for Hellhound has always been a ‘coming of age’ story for the Graycliff Pack as 1) they deal with Becky’s Ex, 2) a mysterious organization infiltrates Graycliff, 3) Becky accepts and steps into the position of Alpha. If you remember my last post on the subject, most of that still applies.

Hellhound will be a challenging book to write, but the challenges will be different from the ones I have faced with Closer Than Family, and I expect they will be ones that foster conflict, rather than neutering it. I don’t want to say too much, because at this point I’m talking about ideas rather than an outline or anything I’ve actually written, and a lot could change from the ideas I have now.

I was going to wrap up with a sample, but I don’t know that there is anything I’m keen to share right now (that I haven’t already), so instead, I will let everyone get a peek at the current iteration of my ‘back cover blurb’. Enjoy.

Freshly-rescued from being kidnapped by hostile werewolves, Graycliff waitress Cassie Baird didn’t get away unscathed. Her kidnappers bit her, which means she’s a werewolf now, too, drawn into a new world she barely understands. Her boyfriend and best friend, more experienced werewolves than Cassie, are helping her where they can. But even the three of them together can only do so much to calm down Cassie’s panicking mother.

Mundane concerns—persistent as they are—pale in importance when Cassie’s friend Becky realizes that the escaped kidnapper, in fleeing across Graycliff, has bitten even more people out of spite—and it’s anyone’s guess how many werewolves there will be in the city come the next Full Moon.

In this page-turning sequel to Tamed Hearts, Wild Souls, the Graycliff Pack are sitting on a ticking time bomb! Can they hold their Pack—and their human relationships—together? Can they save their neighbors from a plague of werewolves? Can they stop Cassie’s kidnapper from making things even worse?

Perhaps most importantly, can Becky pretend to be normal long enough to fool her blind date?