Stories of the Week for June 24, 2013

This week's tip to Beat the Heat (sponsored by Try Not To Burn, now in refreshing Cherry flavor):

I've started to write exclusively in the bathtub, where it's nice and cool.  Sure, I'm no longer fully human, and am now a rather distressing human/prune hybrid creature, but at least I'm not all sweaty anymore.  I'd call that a win. 

Actual writing update:

I've written up a Prologue for Try Not To Burn Book 2: Second Chances (tentative title).  It opens similarly to the first book, as we hear the audio from a news report.  In Book 1, the news report was intended to show how Brandon could still hear the television from his hospital bed, and that he was subconsciously hearing about the events leading to his death as it occurred.

I originally had a different Prologue for Book 1, but I ended up replacing it with what's now in the book.  The original was from Victor Rellik's POV and showed his origins as a killer.  Since Rellik doesn't feature too heavily in the first book, it didn't quite make sense to show an entire chapter from his perspective.  It also didn't represent the overall tone of the book, and was much too dark of an introduction. 

It made much more sense to me to get to the main character as quickly as possible, since I didn't want readers thinking that the entire book would be about Rellik.  His chapter was intended to be inhuman and horrifying, while Brandon's journey is much more human and hopeful.  Brand is trying to redeem his sins and become a better man, while Rellik is rooted in what he is, with no hope of salvation. 


Oh, and I also managed to complete the noir story this week.  And by that, I mean I finished it late last night, after I remembered I'd said I would have it completed by this update.  The killer was a wily one, but I was able to track him or her down. 

I also dusted off an old flash fiction horror story that I had lying around, revised a rather clunky section in the beginning, and sent it off to a contest.  I really like this one, as it deals with a new, spindly creature that doesn't feel quite like anything I've seen before.  I'm hoping it will see the light of day soon, as I'm really interested to see what people think of the story. 


That's the end of this week's update.  Tune in next week for updates on my newest story, plus a photo of the giant green insect I found on my screen door.