Savannah Suspense

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.