Wicked Suspicion launches on July 28th. At this point, there's not much left to do on the writing front. Basically, the book is done. Ended.
Next book up is Wicked Ambition. It's at the beginning. Relatively unformed in my mind at this moment.
Oz and Ayla are still shadows to me. They're starting to give me details about themselves, but I'm a long way from knowing them yet. It's all about the characters for me, so becoming familiar with them and how they think is critical.
I'm in the In-Between. The last book is finished. The next book isn't ready to be started.
It's a strange place.
There's satisfaction. Another deadline met. There's anticipation. New characters. New story. New challenges. There's exhaustion. I was pedal to the metal for months with Lurch and Nyx.There's excitement. New secrets about new characters.
The In-Between is a time where I feel as if I should be writing because I've done so much writing for so many months. But it's also knowing it's too soon to write anything. Even trying this early is a guarantee things will be messed up. It's not an option whether I know the characters well before writing, it's an imperative.
Of course, I always start the book before I have perfect knowledge of my hero and heroine. There are some things I can only learn while I'm writing them. But I need the base line, a certain amount of detail about them.
It's a time of thinking. A time making notes. It's also a time where I will make assumptions about my characters and they will blow them up.
Nothing is certain in the In-Between except that it's too early to write.
