As I’m writing the second book in the Paranormal Defense Series I discovered something about my writing. It really shouldn’t have been such an “ahha” moment as it was but nonetheless here we are. Ever since I was teen and into my early adult years, I was learning how to craft complete stories between 90 to 120 pages long. I studied film and there is where my page limit tormented me. Each page in a script is about a minute in length and no one wants to watch a movie that’s longer than two hours. While my goal was never to try and make huge blockbuster films, I still wanted to share my stories. There wasn’t such thing as self publishing, or nothing like it is now, and I figured movies had the largest audience out there.

For years I’ve condensed my storytelling. Only what mattered made it to the pages. When you are writing a script you only write what people are going to hear or see on the screen. That meant any inner thoughts or overly detailed paragraphs about the scenery were left on the cutting room floor. Crafting a tight and believable story into 120 pages took time to learn and apparently it’s taking even more time to unlearn.

With my short stories they read more like a script in the in correct format than they do a short story. I’ve kept them up even though my writing has vastly changed and improved throughout the years. Part of me likes to have them out there for the public while another part of me is hoping to revisit them and give the stories life again. I am incredibly proud of putting my work out there to be judged. The public is not a kind place so it was a major step to decided to go on this journey.

Deciding to publish Ravenmasters 126 pages made sense to me. Because if it was a script, instead of a book, it would have been a completed film. I’ve re-read my work a few times and I know where I would have liked to have expanding on. But I still stand by the story I wrote. It’s a fun story building up to more and I have that more living inside my head. While origin story of Ravenmaster may have been completed in 126 pages, Maggie and Liam’s story is not. There is so much room for them to grow. Their world was saved that night but it doesn’t mean that all threats are gone.

I am about 100 pages in to book two and I’m only into chapter three, where our heroes are learning that the world is going to end basically ever other day and saving the world doesn’t make them that special. Needless to say book two is going to be much longer than 126 pages since I am developing a world of my own magical creatures, lore, and a world stopping prophecy. My goal was to have my rough draft completed by the end of summer but life has already through wrenches into my summer plans. That doesn’t mean I’m not writing. Most nights I can’t sleep and I am typing away on my phone, it’s just the day time with the three gremlins that sometimes stops me from writing when I want to. No matter what though it will be written.

I just wanted to say how thankful I am for everyone who has purchased my first book while I slowly work on my second. I am even more thankful to those who have left reviews. Those help authors out so much, even if they are just a simple star.

If you haven’t picked up my book it is available on amazon https://a.co/d/0fzEGhHv