Blood Calling: The FAQ

Q: Hey, what happened to the movie-making posts?

A: They'll resume tomorrow, I promise. I just need to get the word out about my new novelette.

Q: Which would be?

A: Baby Teeth: A Blood Calling Novelette

Q: That's quite the name.

A: Yeah.

Q: Sooo... what's Blood Calling?

A: Blood Calling is my next novel. The plan is to get it out in the summer of 2011. Hopefully early summer, as opposed to later summer.

Q: So why the tie-in novelette? Also, what's a novelette?

A: Well, a novelette is a story that's too long to be a short story, but too short to be a novella or a novel. It's about 12,000 words, in this case.

Q: Why put out the novelette first?

A: There's a long answer to that, but I'll try to sum it up.

I started writing Blood Calling (under another title) sometime last year. I got about 8,000 words in, and stopped, because I had other things that needed taking care of, and also, the book felt slow to me. At the time, I thought the novel would be about 80,000 words.

In my estimation, you shouldn't have to wait 1/10 of a book for interesting stuff to happen.

So I stopped writing. Then I had an idea that sped up the story a bit, and wrote more. Then I stopped, because I had other things going on in my life.

I started an unrelated short story that had a vampire in it, because I had an idea for the saddest vampire story in the world. (Okay, not really, but it's pretty sad. And also disturbing.)

I wrote about half that story and got stuck.

Then I realized that both stories would improve if they had the same kind of vampires in them.

With that in mind, I finished up the novelette... without finishing the novel it was tied to.

I realized, however, that they both stood on their own - two sides of the same coin, really, and with a shared character - so I put the first chapter of Blood Calling at the end of the story, and put it up for sale.

Q: So Blood Calling is about vampires?

A: Oh sure. But a kind of vampire you've probably never seen before. (No, they don't sparkle. It has to do with their purpose.) Also, there are ancient enemies, hand-to-hand combat, and some twists and turns. And emotions. Lots of emotions.

Q: So you've got the novelette, and the novel. Is this going to be a series of some sort?

A: I have plans. We'll see how they play out. The title of the first novel will be Blood Calling, with each subsequent entery being "A Blood Calling _______" (Novel, short story, poem. Whatever.)

Q: What else do I need to know?

A: Not much. If you want to read the start of Baby Teeth, click on the link. You can get the rest of the story on the Kindle or nook, and it includes the first chapter of Blood Calling.