PD Martin's Blog

You guys are deciding Sophie’s fate. That’s right, you get to vote for what’s going to happen in each chapter of my next book. Ahhhh!!!

You’ve probably never thought about the decisions an author makes when writing a book. From the get-go, we’re making decisions – some big, some small. In terms of crime fiction, it’s things like:

• Who is our main character and what are they like?
• What’s the crime?
• Will someone die?
• Whodunnit?

These are massive decisions, plus along the way an author is constantly deciding what will happen next, how the crime will be solved, what clues will be left and how the main character will develop.

This week I launched Coming Home – I describe it as an interactive ebook, in which participants get to have their say in the plot and characters. And it’s extremely scary for me that these decisions are largely out of my hands. Sure, I nominate the options, but ultimately you decide.

It was less than 48 hours ago that I “launched” and I’ve found myself constantly clicking on the “show results” section for each of the initial two questions. I have my favourite/s, of course, but majority will rule.

You vote, I write it. I’m a slave to your whims! And I’ve already had one suggestion for a future question: “Vote for lesbian love scene” Yes or No?  As you may have guessed, this was suggested by a man!

Anyway, this is a scary process for me and I’ll probably blog about my progress each week. Who knows how the book will unfold. I can tell you this: I haven’t planned any follow-on chapters/options/questions. I have NO idea where this is going.

No wonder I’m quaking in my boots.

Comments (2)

2 Comments

1. 

   Love the idea of Sophie coming home to solve her brothers murder.Could it be that she and Darren are coming home to see her parents because her Dad has had a health scare and she has not seen them for some time.Has she had one of her flashbacks when she has come home and returned to familiar surroundings?Funny, but I keep thinking that St Kilda will have a large part to play.love your work and am eagerly awaiting the next book.Can’t put them down once I start to read. Regards Keith.(Kates Dad)

   Comment by Keith Browell — December 2, 2009 @ 10:41 am

2. 

   Thanks, Keith! Glad you’re still enjoying Sophie so much. Presume you saw my voting site for Coming Home? Your suggestion is very close to one of the options I’ve put forward so it’d be bizarre if you haven’t seen the site! I’m letting people vote for the book’s plot, chapter by chapter. Check out http://www.pdmartin.com.au/ebook. 1 January is Kiss of Death!

   Comment by PD Martin — December 2, 2009 @ 10:01 pm

Subscribe to comments feed for this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.