Believe it or not, IT HAPPENED ONE DOOMSDAY started out as a short story.
I was struggling with another novel, so I switched gears and wrote a fun little story about this awkward wannabe sorceress who ends up breaking the evil curse on a bad-boy hero with a muscle car.
It was half scary, half funny, and people seemed to really get a kick out of it. They kept asking me what happens next.
And I had to say, “There is no next. This is it.”
But then something funny happened.
I really got hooked on writing these characters, so I expanded it into a novella. My critique group was extraordinarily supportive. I kept bringing them new pages of rough draft as I wrote it, and we tossed all sorts of crazy ideas around.
I just kept expanding the story until it became a novel. The day I finished it, I called my wife to tell her, and she asked, “How does it end?”
And I said, “Guess.”
She said, “You know what would be really cool?” And she sketched out a completely different ending from the one I had just written.
Not just different. It was better, and ultimately it meant expanding the book into a series.
So with a sigh, I went back and changed the ending. And at that moment, everything clicked. I had the feeling that I was really onto something.
This ended up being the first book I’ve ever written that received offers from multiple publishers. My literary agent, Kristin Nelson, sold it in a multi-book deal.
I’ve already written Book 2, which should come out in the summer of 2017, and I have more stories on the way. Get free previews and short stories when you subscribe to my free author newsletter. >