Which one will it be???

I’m still moving forward on two new novels…still not ready to commit to either one. At first I thought the middle grade ghost story was going better, but now I think the YA murder mystery might be going better. I’ve actually got an entire chapter of the YA (it’s a SHORT chapter…I’m on page 8 of the YA and page 7 of the middle grade). The voice is getting better…I’m getting to know the two main characters…and lo and behold a THEME has actually emerged! I usually struggle with theme. There have been times I’ve actually finished a draft of a novel and still had no idea what I’m really trying to say. So that’s pretty good if I have a theme for a mystery/suspense novel already. I have no idea what the theme of the ghost story is.

I’m not going to be able to get much further in the YA without figuring out who all could have wanted this guy dead and why, though. That’s probably my next step there.

And figuring out plot points (for both books) would probably be a good idea, too. Though some writers just WRITE…they don’t worry about plot points…they discover them as they’re writing the book. I’ve never really operated that way before, but who knows? Maybe that’s what I’ll do this time?

Junior High Kid wants me to commit to the ghost story…he thinks that one sounds more interesting. But then again, I talked through part of that story with him when he had pneumonia. We didn’t talk about plot points (because I didn’t have any), but we talked a lot about the main character…where she’s coming from, what she wants, and Junior High Kid liked that. I think the next step in that book is figuring out who some of the other characters are.

One page a day on each manuscript until I make a commitment…(so far, I’m ahead on both books!)