Did you know that the original title for this project was Friends Don’t Let Friends Date The Undead?
At first, I wanted it to be a tongue-in-cheek post-apocalyptic dating manual for avoiding dating vampires accidentally-on-purpose. Then, I thought it could be a paranormal re-telling of How I Met Your Mother with the focus being less-Ted and more-ensemble (#BarneyAndRobin4Eva #MarshallAndLilyEqualRelationshipGoals #FrenchHornsArentTheOnlyThingTedWantsToBeBlue).
When I first outlined the book, it immediately became much darker/grungier and followed the storyline of SnowWhite very closely. Not that I minded, everything I write is in some way a fairy tale. Look closely and you can find all the elements of fairy tale writing in the current chapters.
Then, one day, I was telling my friends stories about my family (like you do) and bragging about how we’ve been known to have whole conversations just quoting Bill Murray. I also bragged about how for her first Ghostbusters’ Day being able to sit upright on her own, my niece got to watch the movie for the first time and my sister posted a video of her cheering at the end. (I’m not crying, you’re crying!)
That’s when these first few chapters clicked into place. The challenge of a character no one can really interact with further restricted by first Ghostbuster quotes, and gradually Bill Murray quotes in general. Vampires who are well-aware of the ethical quagmire they get themselves into every time they open their goddamn mouths. Queer teen werewolves who will not be denied their right to flirt!
We were back in the fun of Friends Don’t Let Friends Date The Undead! Until, that is, I wrote the scene of Beth drinking a bottle of prosecco by herself and crying herself to sleep in her dead sister’s bed, her sister who she herself had to "put down" at the very start of the book.
While the humor of inter-phase flirting would continue to play a part in alleviating the overall mood of the book, it was no longer the focus. Now it’s on these sisters, both looking for answers as to why one of them had to die.
So, the title of the book changed to one reflecting the possibility of murder most foul. The cover — I’ll admit — looks a bit like a Harlequin mystery/romance. These two things are going to changing again ... later this year.
This book, these sisters, deserve a better title to their story, and a cover that isn’t more than a little misleading. But I won’t be working on this right away. I’ve made a schedule for myself:
- 100 days (10 drafting, 90 campaigning) for a guided journal I’ve created and am no editing (and which I use to put a huge dent in healing my hoarding compulsion which, surprise, is a thing), writing a memoir on the side;
- 100 days of drafting and then campaigning a memoir (because I’m a self-centered artist, obviously), writing a guidebook on the side;
- 100 days for a guidebook which will pick up where the guided journal leaves off, writing a paranormal teen sisters drama on the side; and,
- 100 days for The Sally Forth Intrigue under whatever the hell the new title ends up being.
This "schedule" is clearly just the amount of time allotted for each project and the order I’ll be working on them. But you’re following this book and I wanted to let you know that’s its time is literally coming.
At the start of each project, I’ll send you an updated work-slate until it’s time for us to hang out here again, getting this book funded and published (or self-published if necessary).
For now, you can find me:
Pick your poison, m’dears, it’s more than Janie got in the end.
