Happy weekend to you all!
After a slow work day yesterday, I'm back in the saddle and pushing forward with Celestia's Falling. It'll be done by Sunday, and then tweaked before it's shipped off for proofing. It looks like it's going to be about 450 pages when it's done.
Give or take a few. Not bad for the first book in a new series.
I'm going to release Fire Burns Hot (book 5) in the next few days, and then start adding the details to Darkness of Truth(book 6). If all goes on schedule I'll start writing the next book in the series for Emma and Grayson's story, Vegas is Dying and the first book Stolen in Moonlight for Tori and Julian's story.
I hope to get them completed before vacation in August.
Busy next few weeks ahead!
Before I head back into the book, I promised I'd answer the other question I received yesterday, so here it is.
Morgan,
Are you going to kill anyone off in your FBI series? Please don't Kill Elizabeth. It's nice to see a tough woman kicking butt.
~A. Camden.
Yeah, there's a possibility that someone's going to die, and I already have an idea on who it's going to be. Not too long ago, Tammy and I had this conversation. It's also been a reoccurring theme with my other girlfriends. I've been warned that if I harm even one hair on Ethan or Callen's gorgeous heads, I'm a dead woman.
I'll be voted of friendship Island.
I'm contemplating taking out someone in Home Sweet Evil (book 7) or book 8) and that's all I'll say. Book 7 is going to shake everyone up in the family when they personally become the targets of a lunatic. It's going to deal with loss. I have two possible scenarios in my head, and I just need to work out which one feels right to me.
I value everyone's opinion on the characters in my books, but I have to be honest. These books write themselves. I start with an idea and as it progresses down the trail, it twists and turns into something completely different. I never intended to have them take the path they did, but i'm glad they did.
My girlfriends give advice (and I generally ignore it)
I mostly use them as my insanity barometer. I can tell when I've gone too far to one side or the other by their reactions. When I told them I was going to give Elizabeth two men, the shit hit the fan. BIG TIME. Now that I'm contemplating taking out a key player, the Natives are all riled up, so to speak.
I also get comments from the readers, and most of the time they're great. Don't get me wrong, I get a few comments or emails that tell me I ruined it, blah blah, sanctity of marriage, yada yada.
I value their opinion, but honestly I don't take what anyone says into consideration.
Today I had a book return for Deep Dark Mire and an email that said:
"I liked your books because of the love between Elizabeth and Ethan, and now you made her into a cheap trashy novel."
Thank you for your opinion, but I disagree. I think Elizabeth is anything but trashy. I think she's a woman dedicated to a family of men, and specifically has found her heart is divided in half. I wanted to explore the question of 'can a woman love two men and make it work?'
Trashy implies Elizabeth is having random sex with lots of people. She's committed to two men, and I get that it pushes people's comfort zone, but that's part of my job. To take the things that we don't have in our lives and give the reader a peek into it.
Does that mean every series I write will go that route?
No. I had NO IDEA that Elizabeth would be shacking up with two men. No clue. It just happened. One day I was talking to Tammy and said, 'I think I'm going to do a different kind of family' and she said 'oh boy'.
Elizabeth is strong enough to handle two men, mentally, emotionally and physically.
I can tell you now that Tori and Julian will have their own series (You meet them in True Love Lost, Deep Dark Mire. - Fire Burns Hot, and Darkness of Truth are their story) Julian wouldn't put up with his 'woman' with another man, and honestly, Tori is a one man kind of guy. SO they are going to be completely monogamous.
In Celestia's Falling, You meet Emma and Grayson. He wouldn't put up with another man either, so that's not going to happen in their books either. In fact, Grayson is old school, possessive, territorial and doesn't give a damn if people hate him for it. Tori isn't anything like Elizabeth, and couldn't carry that kind of relationship.
Ethan and Callen were a 'perfect storm' and everything lined up just right for it to happen. Will one of them be sacrificed on the murder altar? It could happen. (let the angry emails begin!)
In my opinion, you can't kill someone and bring them back and keep your street cred. I know authors have done it, but once they did, I lost desire to read them. Most of the time they brought them back to appease the audience. Sorry, that's not me. I value you all, but I have to own what I put down in words, or not do it at all.
So there you have it. A really great question, A. Camden. Thank you for emailing me!
Keep them coming!
Back to the grind. Enjoy your Easter weekend!
Much Love, Mayhem and Murder.
Morgan.
