I’ve started work on my newest novel, tentatively titled Scission. It’s something of an experiment for me, a chance to give my usual mystery genre a gentle touch of fantasy. The idea isn’t entirely original, for I’d begun a similar project a few years ago that wound up not feeling quite right; after sitting on the half-completed manuscript, I decided to do something of post mortem to figure out why the story just didn’t work for me.
There were a bunch of tiny things that bothered me about the story, but the largest one was my choice of how to write it; for this particular story — or, at least, the way I’d originally wanted to tell it — I’d decided to do it from a third person perspective, rotating the point-of-view between the two main characters with each chapter. I’m not averse to writing in third person, but for some reason, the mystery writer within me just didn’t like the format. First person has always felt like it put the reader at the center of the action; you learn the clues right alongside Sean or Vasily, giving you an equal chance to solve the puzzle before they do. I’ve never liked the format where the omnipotent navigator knows more that the detective; in those tales, the reader shifts from a position of trying to solve the case to one of rooting for the main character to simply be more observant.
It’s not a problem with the third person format, really, for I’ve read plenty of well-written mysteries where the investigator is not boxed in quite that way; in fairness, I suspect my comfort level with first person was probably the biggest impediment to pulling off the original concept. I have learned to listen to my instincts, though, so deciding to stick with what has worked well for me as a writer wasn’t much of a stretch.
The secondary issue with the original concept didn’t become clear until after I’d finished Belie. Normally, my stories have a pretty clear “A” storyline (usually the murder) with one or two “B” plots that help advance the development of my characters. Belie was the second time I attempted to have two “A” plots and multiple “B” plots, which made for a very difficult writing project overall. In the end, the story came out pretty close to what I was hoping for, but it also made me cast a critical eye back on what I’d attempted to do with Reflections; that original concept had three major plot through lines, all of which converged in the final act. Audacious? Quite. Achievable? I learned a lot in Belie, not the least of which was the important discovery to not try and do too much. Two through lines nearly killed me; three would likely have been the end of the universe.
So back to the bubbling cauldron I went; mixing in all of the things I adored about the original concept, including some very unique new characters, I stirred the frothy brew and came up with something completely different. Kathryn Oliver changed a little bit between her original concept and the version that emerged, lady-in-the-lake style, from the mix; she wound up a bit older and more haunted by her past than the original. In the new version, her fiancé disappears on the eve of their wedding, never to be seen or heard from again; it’s a loss that flavors how she looks at the world, and why she’s so eager to leave the past in her rearview mirror.
Magic is still in this version, and I’ve kept in the Mesoamerican mythology; now, however, I’ve added a fun twist where a realm of god-like entities intersects with our reality, creating a space where magic could plausibly exist while still allowing a traditional police procedural to unfold. Mix in a mysterious masked stranger who seems to have an unusual interest in Kate’s wellbeing and you have all the makings of something truly unique — something that I am extremely excited to be working on.
Fear not – Vasily and Sean have more books to come, but this little side trip is a healthy one for me, a chance to stretch my creativity just a bit. I mean, if Isaac Asimov could write a police procedural that took place in a very futuristic science-fiction version of New York, the least I could do is add a little touch of magic to my tales.
Stay tuned! I’ll update my progress as I write this novel through November.
Related Reading
Snow Drifts is being included in a giveaway promotion featuring authors you might not have already heard of across all sorts of genres. I love to discover new authors — and who can resist a free read? If you are so inclined, check out the listing of short stories and full-length novels available using the link below.
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