January 23, 2014

Wrapping Up Book Two

Only one more chapter left to read to the focus group (my sons) before taking all my notes back to the computer for the next round of edits. 

So far, there haven't been any significant problems identified. The worst was tonight in Chapter 10, in which I caught myself rushing through a scene. I forgot to apply the brakes as the adventure draws to a close in order to avoid going into the final chapter at full speed. If that's the biggest challenge facing me, then I'm in pretty good shape.

For my money, I'm quite pleased with the trajectory of the storyline and the balance between the paranormal adventure and the character development. I would be lying if I said I was never concerned about the potential depth of the relationships between the three main characters. Would J.B. seem too bland? Does William come across as too much of a sidekick? Does Rhea's foul-tempered angst make her unlikeable? And for all my worrying, once I found the correct situations in which to place them, the characters' personalities became apparent and they made it easy for me to represent them on the page.

I'm also a big fan of a couple new characters who pop up in the book. It's always interesting when a minor character suddenly helps serve a purpose beyond your initial expectations. One character, in particular, resulted in a redefining of the "Psi Squad" club for future installments in the series. Not that the outline of the planned nine-book series has changed, just my understanding of who makes up the secret club and why.

So, one more chapter to read aloud, then on to final edits and reviews before formatting the content and finalizing the cover. Keep an eye out for "The Psi Squad and the Atherton Ghost" on Amazon in the coming weeks!

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