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Saturday, September 3, 2016

More Music and Some Post-Release Thoughts



It's going to sound silly, but I'm still trying to decompress post-Loverboy. It was definitely not the normal writing experience; this one put me through the wringer, and I'm still feeling little ripples of anxiety, even though it's all done. I think maybe it's because - especially at the end - it became too consuming for me to even blog or post normally, and I haven't had the chance to really talk about it much. So I wanted to share a few post-release notes.

- One of the things I feel like I didn't get a chance to share within the text: not everyone travels the same road to recovery. Tango's path was just that - his path. It worked for him. But I wanted to encourage anyone dealing with trauma or PTSD to seek help. I wouldn't exactly recommend Mercy's Therapy Clinic. Heh.

- I played around with some new-for-me writing techniques in this one, choosing to write the darkest Nest-related scenes with an intentional sort of passive prose, to highlight Tango's conditioning, one, and also to let the horror of it bleed through the straightforward descriptions. Describing those kinds of scenes isn't like describing a restaurant, or a friendly chat, and it was really important that the darkest content be expressed in a really clean and tidy way. Hence the seven months of writing - I wanted this book to feel different from the rest of the series.

- I had a lot of good conversations with my beta - more than normal - about specific word choice and my intent behind it. That was really fun: talking about the way "burst into tears" was going to have a different impact from, say, "a few manly tears." At every turn, I went for the anti-masculine response, so it was all very purposeful.

- It was important to me that we got to see a different side of Ghost in this one, and I hope that was successful. I love playing with the impression he gives readers; he has a lot of love in his dark heart, and he has the utmost respect for Mags, accepts Tango without hesitation - but then he protects his club at the risk of looking villainous at other times. I wanted softer, stand-up-guy Ghost this time around.

- The character who wasn't supposed to have a real role, but who ended up with something to say was Alec. It was actually a lot of fun to get to know him over the course of the book. And I actually kind of love the idea of seeing more of him in the future, co-captain of the Dramatic Long Coat Club.

If I had one hope for this book, it was that readers would walk away feeling like it was okay to ask for help. And that you aren't the sum of the bad things that have happened to you. I'm so glad to be done with it...but I'm also so glad that I was able to tell this kind of story within the terribly rigid framework of the outlaw MC world. It's a book about growth, in all aspects.

As promised earlier, more tracks:

Playlist Part II








3 comments:

  1. May I say what a wonderful job you did with Tango's story. I had fears going into it that I would be emotionally drained. We all knew his story would be painful. You did a great job with the pacing. I ended the story smiling and happy and that says a lot considering the contents.So a wonderful job to you!

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  2. I have to say I'm looking forward to Alec popping up in future books, I love the way he grounded Ian. He's the light to Ian's dark that Tango could never be.

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  3. Wow. Masterpiece Theatre III is the soundtrack.

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