Saturday, August 9, 2014

With the release of my third book, TSUNAMI, I decided that I wanted to revamp the first two books as I've explained below. I want everything to be ready for the release of the fourth book, VORTEX, so that the entire TIDES series will be consistent as to cover art, and that the first and second novels will reflect more of what I've learned about writing.
TIDES: Book One, my first book ever, has been loved by almost everyone who has read it. One glaring exception made some valid points and while I did not agree with everything she said, I did go back through the book and make some changes. The basic story remains the same, but I deleted some "he saids" and "she saids," some exclamation points, and removed extraneous direct addresses in two-people conversations. I did not remove any prayers--this woman attributed the prayers as "Christianity being shoved down our throats." Jews pray. Muslims pray. I'm sure there are other religions that have prayer as part of their doctrine; it doesn't have to be Christian. Regardless, the prayers are few and I will not remove them. They are part of my characters' lives.
I hope those of you who have read/purchased RIPTIDE will forgive me, but I'm about to make some changes to the book. I've already started writing the changes after a discussion with my editor, Jim Bahler. Jim feels that the romance in RIPTIDE should not minimize the overall adventure theme of the series, and I think he's right. Therefore, I am introducing another storyline that will be very tense and definitely an adventurous inclusion into the second book. I will also allude to what happened in the fourth book so you don't have to buy the second book again to find out what happened--although you might want to anyway. This new inclusion will fortify the existing story, which in itself, will not change. The wonderful thing about self-publishing is that there isn't a stockpile of twenty thousand books in some warehouse, so if you want to, you can make corrections and changes.
TSUNAMI is out and so far the feedback is that I have outdone myself in this novel. I don't really think my writing has changed. I think that the story is more involved, there are more storylines, and there are more characters telling the stories. The first book, TIDES, while it included the villagers in a big way, most of the story revolved around the two main characters and since Micah makes Katie promise to keep his existence a secret, it's not like they could throw a party and invite everyone. RIPTIDE answers several questions brought about in the first book, but hints that a storm is coming, which, the reason for the storm shows up near the end of the second book. TSUNAMI takes the storm to the next level, revealing that there are things going on in secret and from two directions. In VORTEX, everything breaks loose and two new species (and much more) are entered into the dyanamics. So, while I don't think my writing has changed all that much, I do think the complexity of the story changes with each book. As Jim noted recently, each book is very different from the others, but each is a continuation of the same characters and their stories.
I recently learned that TIDES' two youngest fans are a nine-year-old boy and a ten-year-old girl. They both love the books. The ten year old is my great-niece. I was concerned because I did not write these books for children and I know what's coming. My sister assured me that my great-niece will take the story in stride--she's a saavy, bright tomboy (much like Katie). As for TIDES' nine year old fan, his grandmother didn't know he was reading the books until after the fact. So, TIDES has become a multi-generational book, from age 9 to 93, both male and female alike, although I would caution adults to read the books before they let their youngish children read them--just in case there might be some issues. The books were primarily aimed at young adults and adults, both genders.
For those of you who have read TIDES and enjoyed it, I am grateful and humbled, as well as awed. I hope you'll enjoy VORTEX when it debuts later this year or the first of next year.

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