Intricacies

Weekends are never my best times for writing. I certainly want to spend time with my husband, and there are always chores that need to be done. Writing is a solitary occupation. I sometimes bounce ideas off my husband and draw on his expertise in all facets of the physical sciences, but constructing a plot, building characters, and putting them all together is all on  me.

I'm at the stage of my current book where I need to think things through to a greater extent. There are timing issues: what happens when, should one scene come before another. For example, Tracy is heading for a big scene very soon, and I began toying with the idea of her seeking more information about the other person involved, but should that happen before the scene or after? I don't want to have her tapping her father's wisdom too often on this one. He makes an appearance or two, but for those who have read "Faces," he's not destined for such an active role. Since I am determined not to write any "spoilers" in this series on writing, I dare not say more than that Pappy's participation serves to direct Tracy's thinking about herself and her relationships.

Still hunting for elements of cover art for "The Changeling Kill." I'm also at a stage now--post submitting to publisher--that I begin to question certain decisions I made about it. There's one scene in particular which is sort of graphic in nature, but I wanted readers to be as shocked as the character experiencing it is. But I did I go too far? Maybe I'm just being wishy-washy or cowardly. Some people will like my novels, some people won't. Some will be shocked, and some will shrug a shoulder and ask, "So what's the big deal?" The one thing that keeps coming back to me in this regard was from the keynote address given at Love Is Murder. "Write the book that is in you." That's what I did in "Changeling," and if it reveals some of the darker depths of my mind and imagination, so be it. Sometimes, life is shocking.