Stories of the Week for October 9, 2013

I finished writing the sequel to my paranormal “escape from Hell” thriller, Try Not to Burn, recently. I'd written the first two drafts a while ago, but the beginning had been giving me some trouble. Specifically, the part where I brought readers up to speed on what had happened during the first book.

It was a doozy of a task, considering how much happened in the first book. The main issue I was having was that I didn't want to just mention what happened in a fusty, narrator-esque way. I wanted it to be in the main character's voice, but not in a gimmicky “Look at me, I'm being clever” sort of way. So it was a difficult balance to strike.

And not to toot my own horn too much, but the first book was a lot to live up to, and I didn't want people to be let down when they read the sequel, so I didn't want to rush the final draft. It's too early to guess if fans of the first one will like everything about the second, as I go in some directions people might not be expecting (I like to keep the reader on their toes), but so far, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Both books takes place in Hell, but they're pretty much all about the characters, their struggles and their interactions with one another. The deeper into the levels they go, the more they have to rely on each other for support and protection, and the more impossible the odds seem.

In the first book, they're struggling against other inmates and the monsters that serve the demons. In the second book, well...they have a number of real-live demons to contend with, in addition to the personal demons they'll have to face.