This week we're talking about out of print books, a terrifying subject if ever there was one.
My Out of Print book is actually, depending on which edition, a trilogy.
Once upon a time, I wrote a 340,000 word monster of a book. Multiple reviews referred to it as a DOORSTOPPER.
That would have been my fourth novel, SERENITY FALLS.
Long story short, I am a pantser. I do not outline very often and even when I do, I can very nearly promise you I'm not staying on track to use that outline for long. It's just not the way my mind works, so things change, whether I want them to or not. I never planned to write a book that big, but I did. It just sort of happened.
When I'm writing my mind does its own thing. I might THINK I know where a book is going, but like as not, it'll change fast and often. The tale evolves.
I had an idea for a curse that falls on a town, revenge from beyond the grave, and worse than that. But in order for that to work the way I wanted it to, there had to be a mystery or two, and there had to be a lot of history for the town. before it was done I had written a novel with over 180 named characters, that spanned over 300years of town history. There were good guys, bad guys, murders, damned near every sin you can imagine covered in bloody history. And then there was the guy who had to deal with all of that, my monster hunter Jonathan Crowley. Hell, his history spans centuries, and I wanted a town that could compete for the readers' attention!
The next thing I know I've spent the better part of a year writing this novel. I normally spend around three months on the first draft and I spent four times that long here. It was so big an idea that when it went from trade paperback to mass market the publisher said it needed to be three books. That meant rewriting a lot of stuff, cutting some out and adding in even more.
Thus was the SERENITY FALLS TRILOGY born: WRIT IN BLOOD, THE PACK, and THE DARK CARNIVAL. There's a lot of story, and probably fifteen or so perspectives.
I'm happy to say the reviews were favorable.
Quite possibly the best horror novel since Salem's Lot. -- Jim Brock, Baryon magazine
Moore is perhaps the most talented writer of this genre to date. ...On the surface SERENITY FALLS sounds like Stephen King's Salem's Lot, but there is much Moore to the novel than just the rewriting a classic. The story line is loaded with, and an intensifying terror that is difficult to classify as the audience wonders between the Curse and the newcomers as to who is the focus of this peril. Surprisingly for such a large ensemble the residents ensure the audience believes the small hamlet exists and bring life to the threat.
Harriet Klausner -- Midwest Book Review
Moore is something to watch. -- Bentley Little
I'll take it. :)
I'm likely putting this back in print myself next year.
