Four books in the Monsters and Demons series nearly complete

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I had announced the re-issue of the first book for the Monsters and Demons series. The second book is with my editor and I'm paying off the fantastic cover artist who did the new cover for Nri Kryne.

I'd forgotten to send off short stories in all this time span of waiting, planning, and doing the relaunch.

What I've been doing all this time is writing books 3 and 4.

When I sent book 2 to a beta reader, I noticed he picked the book apart in all places EXCEPT where I actually plotted the scenes first with a notebook.

For book 3, I plotted the entire book from beginning to end. I was able to pick out the problem spots quickly and easily. As a result, I wrote the book in 2 months, equipped with all the madness I love to put into the stories. As soon as book 2 is finished with its final stages, I shall begin the refining process for book 3.

Book 4 had some serious problems. I was plotting and writing as I went along, but once I hit the climax, something went wrong. The story stopped working. I smacked into a brick wall at a hundred miles an hour.

For the last week, I've been tearing my brains apart, wondering what had happened. Where did I mess up? What went wrong? What was I missing? I thought and thought and thought. I almost missed going onto the Saturday morning show with the chairwoman of my tribe. She was going to let me discuss the book. I thought Thursday was Friday and went through a freak out. On the real Friday night, I woke up every two hours and showed up at the show looking pale and drawn.

I ran to my mom for help on book 4, and she put on an evil, whining voice, and described my villain as if she were a person who hated my guts. The cringe was real. My villain was weak, stupid, made no sense, was hiding most of the time, and the real threat was designated to a side story.

After staring at my knees for a bit, I thought, "You're right."

So, I changed it. I fixed my villain. Now I just need to watch more Forensic Files to get a better bead on him.

With the change, five characters I really loved became obsolete. Now they will be featured as the main characters in a different book. It may be book 5, or even 6. Their story came together right quick, so that one is all set.

And then my mom said she hated one of the characters (not the five), but one I had to cut from Nri Kryne. Poor kid is getting chopped out of all the stories. Once she was gone, though, book 4 came to life and it allowed the villain to be as creepy as he liked. It also allowed for more monsters, demons, freakishness, more adventure, and more action. Book 4 was staid because of this kid.

The kid herself...I don't know what to do with her. She's got a really good name, though. In the end, I might just take the name and give it to somebody who's more likable. Or she could go the way of Ivel, who had been a mainstay in the rough draft for the series. And now...

What is exciting is that a villain I had to cut out of Nri Kryne gets to make her debut in book 4. She's not the main villain, and not exactly a villain, but one who plagues the MC. She shined in all her evil glory in Nri Kryne, but didn't make the final cut. So now she gets to shine in book 4.

That's about it. That's what I've been doing. Now that I'm kind of recuperated from all the mess that's been going on, I sent off a short story and will be sending more throughout the week.

"Keepress" should be out sometime soon. The magazine it was accepted into hasn't put it out yet. For all anyone knows, it might come out in October.

Here's hoping.

PS

Halloween is coming and I've found some freaky stories for you to listen to. I will be posting those here all the way to Halloween.

PPS

For anyone wanting to buy Monsters and Demons: Nri Kryne, click here.

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