Each book is different

I have a bum leg.  I wrote my post yesterday on my laptop, balanced in my lap, in my recliner in the living room to keep my leg up.  I posted it, but guess what?  When I looked on my computer in my work room this morning, to post for #MondayBlogs on twitter, only the first line came up.  One little line!  I looked back on the chapters I’d posted so far for Enoch (written on my laptop), and it took some of my rewrites, but not all of them. Embarrassing.  I try really hard to write clean, and I thought I had.  I guess my laptop has a mind of its own.  So I polished every chapter again (but on my laptop), and hope those rewrites stayed, and I’ve reposted them.  I’m rewriting my blog today and reposting it, too. Most importantly, I found a way to work on my beloved computer again, thank the heavens!  So…sorry for the inconvenience, but here’s this week’s blog:

I finally finished the last chapter, ever, of Enoch’s story. Enoch’s special to me. He’s the first novel I worked on with my agent, Lauren Abramo. She’d taken me on because of a previous book I sent her, but we really didn’t make many changes to that one. I was lucky.  She pretty much liked FABRIC OF LIFE, as was.  I still love that book, but it was more of a paranormal mystery with a ghost than an urban fantasy, and I was determined to try UF. It kept calling to me.  I wanted to write battles and high stakes.  I wanted immortals with super powers. And then I thought of two angels, who are best friends, even though they’re incompatible.

I think  most of us have friends we hold dear who don’t have a lot in common with us.  Caleb’s that friend for Enoch.  The first time I wrote the book, I wrote it from third person, limited POV.  Lauren liked it, but her comments made me think that the book would be better from multiple POVs.  It would crank up the tension and help develop the supporting characters more.  That rewrite took a while, but I still think it made the book better.  So did Lauren.  But there was nothing easy about writing Fallen Angels.

That’s the thing about books.  Every single one of them is a different writing experience. When I wanted to write something fun and easy, I could always count on Babet and Prosper.  The witch and her werebear had enough chemistry to heat things up, and River City had enough atmosphere to bring in all kinds of antagonists–vampires, voodoo priests, and even the boogey man.  It was fun.  Enoch wasn’t like that.  Every time I wrote about him, it was work.  But lordy, did I love my angel!

I taught elementary school for six years–I know, this feels like it’s way off topic, but it’s not. What almost every teacher can tell you is that you care about the little troublemakers, the smart mouths, the kids who struggle with learning, discipline, …whatever every bit as much as you care about the top students and sweethearts.  They ALL matter to you.  You want them ALL to succeed.  That’s the way it is with characters and books.  The book that makes you sweat endears itself just as much as the book that practically writes itself.  You love them all, or why bother?

Anyway, this is a long and round about way of saying that I wanted Enoch and Caleb to have a happy ending.  I wanted all of Enoch’s struggles to achieve something.  After three books, he’d come a long way, but I wanted more for him.  So the novella I posted on my webpage is my tribute to him, my way of leaving him with what he deserves–redemption.

My webpage (and Enoch’s novella): http://www.judithpostswritingmusings.com/

My author Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/JudiLynnwrites/

On twitter:  @judypost