Monday, October 12, 2009

Manuscript Madness


I'm a bit of wound up nerves this morning. You see, last night I finished my first draft of LEGACY. Friday I thought I had 5 ½ chapters left, but on Saturday, Athena, the little minx, dived right into trouble instead of giving the villain his full-on chase. It has ended up far creepier, therefore I hope better—not the ending I originally envisioned exactly, but it made way for Athena to get to clean house a little as the novel wound up, and to set up one of my OTHER characters, who will be featured in PoV next novel, to have some ANGER ISSUES.

 I can't believe the speed with which this book has fallen out of my pen.  CONFLUENCE took nearly 3 years (once I actually got to WRITING the thing--it simmered for 4 years before that).  This one got a vague plotting (of what is now book 2) last winter--character profiles for people in two families, and then in August, this Athena character started bugging me, poking me, prodding me, and drove this INSANE writing pace.  She wasn't even planned!  But she IS central... you see, she ties everything together... connects me to the bad boys...  LEGACY is 310 hand-written pages.  Typing thus far indicates I lose about 10%, so 280 pages, when typed.  My son assured me that is far more reasonable than my 800 page CONFLUENCE.

So what is LEGACY about? In brief... (and this is my first shot at this, I think, so nowhere near query ready... then again I don't even plan to EDIT until the Trilogy is done)


A young boy, watching through the vents, witnesses his father's execution-style murder. A thirteen year old girl cowers in the closet as her mother tries to trade her daughter's virginity for a drug fix. Peter Nayev and his siblings retreat to hidden rooms in their family home, and Athena flees to the streets to escape the dark legacy their parents have cast upon them. By chance, a meeting in Portland's Pioneer Square, brings these children together, and makes them realize their lives have been intertwined since before they were born. Together they try to solve some of the mysteries, just hoping they can find a way for the world to be safe again.



This book was from the PoVs of Peter (8) and Athena (13). The next one will be Kade (Peter's older brother, 14) and ___ (the mother from the family who buys the Nayev house), and the final one might go back to Athena but then will feature the mother of the Nayev kids (she has disappeared as of the beginning of LEGACY)

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it.


Meeting Mari


And then I'm ALSO excited to pick Mari up from the airport tonight (SQUEEEEEE!)and take a few days off work (SQUEEEEE!) showing her the thrills of Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is not a 'destination' kind of place. People don't come here to vacation. But it is a quaint and sometimes quirky town, and I think we can definitely find enough to do to keep busy for a couple days. It will be interesting too, to show somebody who has read CONFLUENCE the places that the idea originated from.

So I suppose I will be taking a few day hiatus from writing, but that is okay, because the novel is DONE! Woohoo!

6 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Congratulations on the finish! That's awesome. The plot sounds really intriguing, Hart. You deserve a break! Enjoy.

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Amber T. Smith said...

Congrats on finishing! The plots sounds fantastic, and to have THREE books plotted out is incredible. I have a feeling that the trilogy will be 'The One' for you. When you can write something that fast, and you get that elusive buzz while doing it, it usually means you're onto a winner. I've only the HP stuff to compare it with, but my two biggest 'hits' were stories that practically wrote themselves, while the babies I have sweated over don't do quite so well.

I'm so pleased for you! *glomps*

Aleta said...

When does it go on the market, because after that quick glimpse of the book, I want to read more!

Hart Johnson said...

Elizabeth-thank you! And I will take a few days off while Mari is here, then maybe write an update or two for my fanfiction following I've completely neglected, but hopefully back to the second book within a week.

Tara-THANK YOU! I Do think this book and trilogy will be an easier sell. I still love CONFLUENCE, and parts of it flowed like this, but this one is sexier.

Aleta--Oh I WISH! My plan is to have first draft of the full Trilogy done before coming back to edit because it is so probable details of the last will change important pieces of the first. I'm glad you're interested though!

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, CONGRATULATIONS! That was fast. I am speechless! All I can say is I feel that the trilogy to get published first and get your foot in the door.

*hugs*

M.J. Nicholls said...

A belated congraulations from your overseas blog brother!

Remember: booze, cake, 80-hour parties, and Class A drugs. (Kidding about the last one. Maybe). :)