When last I posted (good heavens, April? And now it's October? Sheesh), we were on chapter fifteen. Well, dear readers, we're now on chapter twenty-seven, 61,000 words, about halfway through the story arc, I'd say. It's been a lot of fun to work in the thriller framework; as everyone says, it's a terrific structure because you can do almost anything with it. Even dark urban Christian fantasy. And apparently it's working - my wonderful writing group has responded very positively. One even said, "You gave me goosebumps. And then I read it again, and I still had goosebumps." Wow. I can't ask for higher praise than that.
One unexpected phenomenon I've encountered is how difficult it is to stay in my villain's (the Ghost) head. It's like deliberately wading into a stinking swamp and then rolling around in the muck. He's not at all a charming villain, like Seth. He's a complete psychopath, made all the more angry and complicated by the fact that he's dead. I find that I have to send my family out of the house when I write him, because I need to feel what he's feeling in order to make it believable. And then I take a shower and get some fresh air to cleanse my mind, as it were. But it's fun in a dark, frightening kind of way, and it seems to be working. So I go with it!
I continue to trawl for more publishing leads for Discovering . Somewhere out there is just the right fit for this strange and wonderful piece of fiction.
Happy Halloween!