Depths of Darkness - Behind the Scenes

First off: Happy Book Birthday to Depths of Darkness

Today marks the the very first day of my second novel in print and in eBook format. This blog post isn't going to be about selling you my book, but I will put some links at the bottom of the page for those who are interested in buying a copy for themselves.
Today, this post is about telling you a few interesting details about my long-awaited second novel that many of you might not know.

Before I do that, I do want to take a moment to thank Mrs. Y for taking the time to review the ARC that I sent her. Please read her detailed review here.

Prequel, Sequel

One of the things that Mrs. Y. addressed in her review and something that has been commented on by others is how odd it is to write a prequel as a sequel. There are several reasons for this, some obvious, some not so much.

1. I love backstories. Every time I write a new story, the first thing I do is work on my character backstories. These can get ridiculously detailed, but I find that to write good characters I need to understand what brought them to where they are today.
   What this means is that even when a story is intended as a standalone or first in a series, I have so much backstory in my head (rarely do I write anything down about backstories) that sometimes a story sparks for what happened before the current story. 
2. I started writing this book first. You read that right. I actually started writing this story first. It's been through multiple rewrites and often put aside in frustration for years at a time. My first attempt at Depths of Darkness was in 2009, the first draft of Road to Redemption came in 2012. Depths of Darkness has changed considerably over the rewrites, but the ending, beginning and overall plot have remained pretty much the same. When the idea for Road to Redemption came along and it fit so well into the world of La Port, that I ran with it and I loved it. 

Why did it take so long to write?

Well, as Mrs. Y so aptly put it - this is a dark story. It is a terrifying story in many ways and deals with darker themes than I usually write. I always knew what I wanted the story to be, but that many years ago I did not have have the ability to write it well. By the time I did have the ability, I found it to be a very difficult story write.
This novel deals with issues of addiction and mental health, these are both topics that hit close to home in my world. There are many scenes where I just had to step back and take a break from writing because it was too much for me. Child murders? My brain was desperately looking for a way to make the kids "less real" and I did play with not having kids as the victims. Unfortunately for me, as Mrs. Y also noted, these dark things were necessary for the plot to proceed properly.
There were moments where I just had to force myself through the writing session to finish this book. It was hard to write. I will not lie about that.

I almost missed my deadline. 

It took me four months longer to finish the last draft of this novel than I had predicted it would because I kept  putting off writing it. When it came to editing, it was the same deal. There were moments when I just saved where I was, close my computer and thanked God that I don't typically have nightmares.
Thankfully, the wonderful and talented Sarah Jane Pounds (Find her on Twitter @sarahjp22) was willing to work with me on rushing it through the last stage of edits. Without her hard work this novel wouldn't be nearly so good a book.

Any Other Questions?
Feel free to drop a note in the comments and I will do my best to answer the questions.


Purchase Links:
Kindle & Print US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J43XHTV
Kindle & Print CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07J43XHTV
Print CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1726830608

Also available on your Kobo device.


PS: Yes, I am already planning the next novel in this series. It is currently untitled.