Shelving a Novel

Saturday night, I made one of the hardest decisions a novelist can ever make. I shelved The Unanswerable.

There's always a mixture of emotions when this happens, largely sorrow, but right now, all I feel is relief. The novel wasn't growing the way I wanted it to. The characters weren't strong enough to carry the hectic pacing of the story, and the pacing at the beginning was too slow to grasp the reader. It was a mess that I wrote two years ago, and even during my rewriting, the pacing and plot stayed a mess.

While I do plan on revisiting the book, I've decided to approach the series of conquels from a different angle.

My husband and I hashed out the plot line, the sense of urgency, the characters, and what I could do to revamp the current book. But the problem is, The Unanswerable has too much information. It explains the why of the apocalypse.

The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later start with immediate consequences. We don't know what's going on, but our main characters have an instant need to survive, something that all people can relate to.

The Underground, which was originally going to be book two in the series, starts with immediacy. The main characters have to go or else... And that's a pretty great opener for a series. It sucks you in and says, "This story is important. And these people? They matter." As such, The Underground will now be book one, which I'm hoping to publish next year.

I plan on revamping The Unanswerable with the same major characters, same turning point, but I plan on removing most of the story and starting from scratch. However, since I am so utterly frustrated with this novel, I'm not in the right mindset to revamp it.

While I won't apologize for choosing not to publish / pursue a sub-par novel, I will apologize for those who were expecting a virus-based apocalypse novel this year from me.

There is, fortunately, some good news in all of this.

Editing In a Blue Moon has gone smoothly, and I'm expecting a March publication. It's a young adult fairy tale retelling/apocalypse, so while there are some humorous moments (evil Pinocchio anyone?), it's very fast-paced and will be sure to hit on all the dark notes that you find in apocalypse novels.

In addition, I've started writing my Consciousness Series, which will start with Conscious. It's a paranormal series that will have some suspenseful elements. I haven't fleshed out the plot yet, but the beginning of the first book packs a huge punch. I'm really excited for this series because it combines a lot of emotional, contemporary elements with the intensity of a paranormal plot.

So, while I'm upset about having to put The Unanswerable aside, I do have high hopes for this year's publication schedule. No Sugar Coating and Good Criminal Heart should still be released this year, both standalones for those who don't want to invest in a series.

I'm excited about the future, and while the UnSeries isn't getting published on time, it will see the light of day eventually.

April Goals

March went by and was decently successful.  I have 23,000 words written of No Sugar Coating, my YA Magical Realism piece.  Though, I think calling it Science Fiction and putting it under "Psychic powers" or something like that might be more accurate?  It's contemporary, except the one, magical element.  Which, these days, can arguably be either Magical Realism or Paranormal.

Where We Collide has four chapters left of first edit of the third complete rewrite.  My critique partners have gotten me feedback on most of the chapters.  I still need to work on this throughout the month, but I'm really close!  I did rewrite my not-so-great query letter, so that least that's done.

I need to edit/rework the synopsis, focus on the first five-ten pages, and then send off queries.  I am so excited!

This month, I also plan on finishing No Sugar Coating.  Depending on the length, I might hold off on self-publishing and consider maybe seeking an agent for it.  But if it ends up being novella length (my original intention), I'll self-pub.  If I ends up being over 55k, then I might seek traditional publishing.  I think it's a great story, I'm really proud of it.

And of course, April brings the dreaded Write-a-thon day.  On April 13th, a few friends and I are participating in Camp NaNo's write-a-thon, but we've put our own twist on it.  I'm excited, and nervous.  In preparation, I've been outlining my top-secret-novelette project (which has a name that I won't announce until I get closer to the release date).  It's YA Comedic Dystopian (that's the only sneak peek you're getting).  I plan on writing it in one weekend, and I'm aiming for 20k.  I figure if I outline enough then I might be able to pull it off.

So now I have a bunch of new goals, which include self-publishing the top-secret project by mid-June/early-July and creating an IndieGogo for The Unanswerable.

Yay for new projects!  And yay for almost finishing old projects!