I shot past the 1/3rd mark in The Ghost and the Shifter last night. Feeling pretty good about that. I like the draft so far. It doesn’t quite have the horror elements that Ghost At His Back did, but the series was always meant to be flexible in terms of themes. It’s still very grown up, with pretty graphic violence and plenty of sex. I’m going to pick through it sometime next week and maybe post a chapter up here for your reading pleasure. At least, I hope it’s pleasure, anyways.
The draft is shockingly solid up till this point. With GATHB, I knew about at this point in the novel it would require a rewrite to change some fundamental things. With this one, my only major complaint is that, again, it’s sort of dialogue heavy and could use more fleshing out. I’m not sure it’ll be as long as GATHB – whereas that one came in at 130k words, I’m guessing this one will come in somewhere between 110-120k. There’s a tighter focus and fewer villains to track, but more side character stories.
I’m really fond of Brianna’s story arc in this one. This is a book largely about recovery and trying to heal, which just might not be possible for our vigilante duo, particularly Bri.
Anyways, I hope those of you who picked up GATHB are enjoying it, and if you are, don’t worry – it won’t be terribly long before you get to read the further adventures of Garrett, Murphy, and Brianna.
The Rankin Flats Observer 