Where Does It Go?

The novella that I plan on sprucing up for publication, "Blackness In The White Sand" (or BITWS for short), has a few things in common with its nastier older sister.

1} Both are paranormal fantasies;
2} Both touch upon the concept of revenge;
3} Both are violent, although BITWS is more thorough from start to finish;
4} Both contain exactly one graphic sex scene, although BITWS's is extremely hardcore;
5} Both contain a consistent level of sexual heat, although BITWS does amp it up when needed;
6} And finally, both are what you would call ethnically diverse.

Beyond those similarities, BITWS could be considered to the step brother in this mercurial relationship.

How?

For starters, the inspiration for BITWS didn't comer from a dream or piece of flash fiction. It came from one of the many movie shorts that I would create while running my many errands on the weekend. A very large percentage don't stick around as they instantly dissipate once I walk into the house. This was one of those that stuck around.

This was also designed to be a trilogy of sorts, in which the MC retrieved a backpack he was hired to deliver; steal a car to make the delivery, then make the delivery. But as some of you probably know from experience, the best laid plans can often go kablooie if the story idea grabs you by the throat and hurls you down a long flight of stairs.

Such was the case with BITWS.

Even before we put pen to paper we severely tweaked the concept.

1} We turned the MC into a soul catcher: a person who is the ultimate debt collector. We also make him semi-human, thus giving him a conscience;
2} Since we turned him into a soul catcher, we upped the violence and the body count (i.e. 5 people are viciously killed within the first several pages);
3} Since I'm becoming a fan of the paranormal, with specifically tweaked animals, I introduced a female hybrid lynx who enjoys devouring humans;
4} And just to make things interesting, I put a contract out on the MC, and introduced a modern version of the Vulcan mind meld.

And away we went.

We chugged along, churning out words at a rate of 500-700 at a clip whenever I sat down to work on it. We hit a few bumps along the way, which I was easily able to overcome, except one.

No ending.

The further along I got with the story, the harder it became to find the ending. Now, this wasn't as bad as it sounds, because I did manage to create a proper stopping point for the novella. Finding a good stopping point allowed me the luxury of walking away from it for almost a week and a half so that I could think of a proper ending.

Sure enough, a week and a half later, while I was taking a shower, the ending came to me.

It wasn't a strong ending. In fact, it was very weak and somewhat cliched, but thankfully, it allowed me to tie up all the loose ends so that I could put this to bed. Where it stayed for almost one year.

Now, after taking out BITWS and re-reading it, I discovered that even though this particular ending is weak, the overall concept does work. In fact, with the right amount of tweaking, the ending can perfectly compliment/explain the story.

To quote a lyric from the song, "Where do we go from here?"

For starts, I need a new title for the novella as I don't thing BITWS is that good of a fit for this novella. So while I'm busy creating a viable 2nd draft, I'll also be taking suggestions for a new title. Who knows, maybe someday you'll wind up immortalized in print 'cause the title you suggested was used.