Daniel’s Journal #15 – It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad WIP Wednesday
When you decide a WIP is done, is it really done? That’s probably a question geared more toward the writers who follow me, but feel free to answer either way.
I recently got the manuscript for my book Blood Drive back from my editor, the insanely talented Mel Westcott. I was reading it, and I felt like it was too light. I’m not talking about word count, though it was low for a novel. I just felt like something was missing. It needed a little something to really make it pop.
Then it hit me. There’s a lull in the book a little after the halfway point. Sure, the action picks up right after and doesn’t let up much for the remainder of the book, but it needed something spicy.
I don’t know where the idea came from, but I knew what to do. I went back to the beginning and set up a sequence little by little that would give the story exactly what it needed. It adds some gags, some action, and some very satisfying sequences.
Blood Drive is an action comedy about two vampires, Christian and Evan, and a werewolf, Bart, with a van full of stolen donor blood, driving it from New England to Los Angeles. Hot on their trails is Father Matthew, a heavily-armed priest bent on getting the blood back and slaying those who stole it. Dogging the priest’s tracks are the Russo brothers, Sal and Nunzio, who want to protect Father Matthew to repay a debt they believe they owe him.
It’s a road trip comedy with a blood-soaked twist, like a vampiric It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. The new parts I’ve been adding broadens the trip and makes the cross-country adventure more colorful and definitely more fun.
But I digress…
When you have an idea that’s too good to pass up in a manuscript you thought had been put to bed: Do you reopen it, or do you save the idea for another story?
I haven’t started querying this book yet. which is probably a good thing since these new ideas hit me. Once they’re in and edited, I’ll put this book to bed and consider it the final final version.
Anything else I think up can be in a sequel.
-Daniel Aegan
12/5/18
Daniel Aegan 