This is the first book
where I haven’t had a title pop into my head before the book was started.
Having said that, each of the other three book titles changed by the end of the
book, so I should count myself lucky.
This new project is fun
and very different from what I’ve written in the past. I’m learning a new
sub-genre, and have developed characters that I’m giving free rein to on the
story. I have no idea where the plot is going, and I’m not concerned. When I
get in the groove with the characters, each chapter writes itself. So I’m
taking it just one chapter at a time.
In talking with one of my
beta readers and mentioning how difficult it was to manage a large manuscript,
he suggested I keep the chapters as separate documents. I’m trying that with
the Savannah suspense, and so far I like it. When I think of something to add
to a chapter, I don’t have to scroll until I find it. I just pop into that
chapter and add what I want.
Each chapter has a short
description title so I know exactly what it is about. I am also keeping a
timeline document with a short synopsis of each chapter to keep careful track
of what day it is and what happened. To add another level of tension, the
story is set around a holiday, so to get things to work out, I’ve already had
to back up the dates. Easy to do with individual chapters and a timeline.
I’m on Chapter Seven, where
protagonist Alaina Carter and her former CDC partner Denton Parker are part of
a team to help the city as it faces a potential crisis. They are meeting with
the city’s emergency team to put plans in place should the possible scenario
play out. Stay tuned.
