I just finished editing the first Julian Vaughn novel (Earthly Things) and sent it to my pre-readers. It's a beautiful story and I have so much love for the characters. They are good people, though they're all messed up in their own ways, just like the characters in my first Thomas Morgan novel The Lesser People.
Phew. I don't know why finishing some novels leaves me feeling nervous and excited while others don't. I'm guessing it's because those that are the most honest, and where I feel I've given the story it's own chance to breathe instead of getting in the way, are my favorites to write. It hurts to dig deep. But hurting can be good. You can't heal without it.
Earthly Things addresses some big issues about family, friendship, assumptions, and acceptance.
It's about a fourteen-year-old boy named Dexter who is with his brother Adam when he dies in an accident. He's learning to heal with the help of a neighbor girl, Jamie Hunt, who he's crushing on while his parents are falling apart and he's powerless to help them. He doesn't see how things can get any worse, but things get a lot worse for everybody.
Their spirits are tested, their relationships strained, the mirror they hold up to themselves and the world becomes this dim, fractured surface.
But there is hope and love, too.
It's all about anchors. Like in the opening...
Before my older brother Adam died in a stupid accident he was my anchor.
After he died it was Jamie Hunt who served that purpose in my life.
Now that I’ve been murdered I wonder: Who or what will serve that purpose?
Anchors are for flesh, for steel, for earthly things...
