Project Report: Ghost Targets: Expectation

I'm posting this late but backdating it, so I have no idea how it will show up in your RSS reader.

But it was big news that I missed. Ghost Targets: Expectation is finished. I finished the first draft on Monday, April 27th, then finished it again on Tuesday, April 28th, by inserting a key missing scene back in chapter seven.

T-- was reading it in pieces as I went along, so I got some immediate feedback from her, and I have a handful of other readers all working on the first revision now. If you're interested in reading it, let me know. If you haven't read Gods Tomorrow yet, you should do that first. That one is in a pretty stable state already, and I'd be glad to get you a copy.

I don't think this one will require as drastic a rewrite as Gods Tomorrow needed, but I could learn otherwise as the feedback rolls in. Regardless, I still need to develop the promotional materials (synopsis, cover letter, and blurb), and get it to my agent, along with Gods Tomorrow.

I don't have any immediate plans to start on the next book, but I've got a basic plot worked out for it and I think it'll move the story along in a really satisfying way. I had some concerns on that topic for this book, but everyone who's read it so far has said it's good. That's a relief.

Status: Complete, first draft

Further Reading: Ghost Targets: Expectation

*Minor spoiler warning*

But, seriously, are you kidding me? This article basically endorses the fundamental premise behind my latest plot. They say in the article, "I know this sounds a bit woo-wooey," which I was really using as my defense. The novel's premise involves a rigorously scientific medical clinic that becomes subverted by the efforts of a kook who basically believes the sort of nonsense that I do.

And then this article in Newsweek backs it up. It's eerie.

Project Report: Ghost Targets: Expectation

As I said in my Gods Tomorrow post, the Ghost Targets books are sequels to Gods Tomorrow, and anything I say about them could certainly qualify as spoiler material for the first book. So if you plan on reading it but haven't yet, don't read the Ghost Targets project reports.

Anyway, I've done some good work on Ghost Targets: Expectation this week (the first sequel). I already had an opening scene, much like the one in Gods Tomorrow, in which we see the moments after the crime that sets the novel in motion, from the criminal's viewpoint. It's less than two pages, but introduces the storyline.

This week I finally wrote up a scene that's been pretty clear in my head for nearly a month now -- Katie's return to the Ghost Targets office, and the reaction of her coworkers there (as well as her assignment to this new case).

Basically, that's the first chapter. Carlos just finished reading Gods Tomorrow a couple weeks ago, and he's been giving me phenomenal feedback. I offered to let him read the first chapter of the sequel as a sort of teaser (with the clear warning that it could easily take me until next November to actually finish it), and he was anxious to do so.

So I have that done. If anyone else is interested in seeing it (with the same understanding), let me know and I'll get you access.

Status: Writing, First Draft