28 April 2013

Work in Progress - Blood Bond



I decided to add a new series of posts to the blog this year.  These posts will detail my works in progress, or WIPs.  I’m not going into details on plot or characters, but I will offer insight into how the story came about, where it may be going, and how close I feel it is to completion. 

Tentative title: Blood Bond

Original concept: Twin brothers, separated by unusual circumstances when their mother is murdered, reconnect during their first year at college. They search for the killer of their parents while trying to juggle the challenges of college.

Draft version: First
Present word count: 54,994 (Unknown completion number)

Writing process:
This was the first of my books that started as a National Novel Writing month project. I did win the year I wrote this one, reaching 50,000 words by month’s end.  It was my first attempt at the challenge, so sitting to write was a rush. I loved the encouragement. Plus, I picked a concept that stretched my writing skills. Two POV characters who alternated chapters and trying to write a mystery. Above and beyond my usual short story one POV concepts.

After NaNo, I admit the book sat as I hadn’t fully developed my work process, but that allowed me to percolate ideas and plot concepts while I tried to complete other projects. Now I get to it maybe once a month, adding more to it. I’ve got the first and last chapter written, but getting the stuffing between them has proven more challenging than I thought. Clues appear either too obvious and easy or too vague and lost among other red herrings. The bad guy seems too nice to be evil. Yeah, so I’m not sure how mystery writers do this sometimes.

Future expectations:
 My hope is to complete the novel. That is the primary goal. After that, I would want to assess my attempt. Will it go toward publication? I’m not 100% sure yet. I’ve not attempted a short mystery yet, so I can’t say for certain it’s a genre I’ll pursue, but it was something new I tried. When the book is complete, then we can see where I go.

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