Silence is a Sign

A long overdue update on BANISH THE DEAD

Hey friends!

Those who know us best, know our patterns. And many of you know me very well! So, it should come as no surprise when I tell you I’ve exchanged more frequent interaction here for productivity these past three months. I’m not happy with the silence but I had little choice. I needed to focus with the little time I had available to write (for good reasons!)

As you may have noticed on my socials, my schedule got wild starting in March with weekly author and publisher events including World Oddities Expo, Horror Reader Weekend, several book releases at Sobelo Books, StokerCon, and several work trips. Toss in my oldest son’s high school graduation, one family vacation, and a fantastic wedding weekend for my buddy, coauthor, and editor Zach Bohannon (congrats, Zach!) and you’ve got one taxed schedule.

On the periphery of the anarchy, I’ve been writing Banish the Dead, the last novel in The Haunting of the Whispering House series. Each book’s writing process is a unique experience for me, a delicate balance of planning where my heart wants the story to go (plotting) and holding on for dear life when the characters take over (pantsing). You see, these characters don’t stay on the page when I finish writing for the day, they press their fingers into the coils of my brain and exert their will until the story is done.

They haunt me until the haunting is done. Then they haunt you. Apparently, that’s how this works.

For these reasons, it’s normally hard for me to pivot to other big projects while I’m writing a novel. I’m drunk on my story, unable to focus on much else. But Banish the Dead has been different. This one came in wild sprints of inspiration followed by periods of stepping away to let the story mature in my subconscious until it fermented and bubbled over, at which point I drown in it again. Iterations of submersion and surfacing for air. And it’s beautiful to see the result, never forced, always natural and way better than I anticipated.

Maybe one day I’ll make a video or post and share my original plot for this series and you’ll share my surprise by how far I’ve veered from the initial vision. Hopefully, you’ll also feel grateful for the deviation, thankful that the characters took over and told their story rather than mine. This is their story.

And, very soon, it’ll be yours.

Now, you may recall I released Bury the Child and Burn the Girls as weekly serials as I wrote them. I really enjoyed that process. I loved sharing chapters on Substack each week and gathering reader feedback as I worked a few chapters ahead. I stopped with Bless the Mother because Abigail and Constance became so unpredictable I feared having to double back and drastically change the story as it unfolded. Banish the Dead felt the same at first. But now I’m far enough along that I’m comfortable sharing serial chapter releases if readers want them.

What do you say? Want serial chapter releases or would you prefer to wait another few weeks for the official release? (ANSWER THE POLL QUESTION BELOW!)

Oh...and what's this?! 🤓