That was a heck of a gap!
What happened was a new job. There was a lot of adjusting going on around here. There is STILL a lot of adjusting going on, but I have not stopped writing.
Before the new gig actually started I decided ‘what the hell’ and started turning one of my novellas into a full-length novel. This was EXPOSURE, the origin romance of Andy Martin and Victor Garcia, who are now the heroes of two other full-length novels and will very likely be the heroes of more to come.
EXPOSURE started out like most of the novellas: a quick and easy read, with a lot of dialogue, topping out at around 20,000 words. I expanded it twice already, most recently to roughly 36,000. As of this writing it is over 82,000 and growing.
Most of the novellas wouldn’t hold up as full-length novels. There’s not enough story there, or the time period covered is insufficient to cover at novel-length without going into the excruciating minutiae of life. A romance wants LOVE STORY not minutiae! It’s like packing too much research into a historical novel. If I want to read a thick piece of research, I will. Keep it out of my novels, please.
Anyway, EXPOSURE - I think - always wanted to be a novel. The story began in November 2012 of story-universe time, and ended in December 2015. That’s years of Stuff Happening, more or less continuously, with both men: too much to cover in a novella. There was a lot that happened off the page.
Expanding this to novel length means I get to put all that stuff on the page. Most of it informs, or is referenced in, the other published novel (THE GHOST OF CARLOS GARDEL) or its sequel (NEVER ENOUGH, target launch: March 2020).
Why these two characters? A psychologist could probably have a field day with that. The short answer is, I really love them both. I like the way they relate to my other characters. They tie together the communities of the Underground Cabaret, of theater and film director Tanith Salazar, and of Dmitri’s studio Shall We Dance. They also connect with characters who haven’t even been published yet (upcoming novellas A SECRET CHORD and TRIPLE X; novels A BRAID OF LOVE and LOST & FOUND). They are, in short, anchor characters. Possibly the anchor characters of the entire body of work; the sun around which all those others orbit.
They are also really talented, sexy, articulate people, which makes them fun to write. They give good banter, they’re very physical, and they do interesting things. The new, improved, and much-expanded EXPOSURE will launch soon. Watch this space!
(If you want a sneak peek, the novella is still available. When the novel is finished, it will be published to that same profile, which means if you get that novella now, you will get the full novel as an update. Quite a deal, if you ask me. Victor plays a part in MILLION DOLLAR DEATH, and Andy is an important supporting character in STRIPPED. Because he is effing ubiquitous, he can also be found in SET DRESSING, TORCH, and LIFT.)