Saturday, September 20, 2014

Update Schmupdate

Hello all you fine people!

So, I very rarely write blog posts, but I felt like I had an abundance of things to say and thought perhaps this would be a better venue to write it all out.

Who here loves Ella and Porter?  I do.  I know there are people out there waiting for book #3.  It's you people, the ones who are anticipating the story, I wish to speak to first.  I have a warning for you, but it's not a bad warning, it's like, an FYI.

Never Close Enough was my very first book.  Very. First. Book.  For a lot of reasons I both love and hate that book.  I LOVE Ella and Porter.  I love how they love each other, I love how from day one they were so totally and completely in love with each other. Even through all the ups and downs and twists and turns - they love hard.  And I love that.  However, there are things about that book I would do differently if I were writing it now, again, for the first time.

Think about the first time you ever did something new.  Then think about the second time.  Or the third.  You adapted, you changed, you grew.  That's what has happened to me.  I've changed and (thank God) I've grown.  

Never Close Enough and Never Far Away are both written in a third person point of view.  So, there's a lot of he/she/they.  I wrote The Space Between Us and wanted to try first person - I/me/we.  I found myself so much more connected to Charlie and Asher than I ever was to E&P.  For me, it was easier to tell the story from a 1st person perspective and put more into the story.
 
That being said, when I started to work on Never Giving Up, I struggled with how to write it.  I felt like I should stick to third person for continuity purposes (and because my sister said I should absolutely NOT switch in the middle of the series), but I felt like it would be a better book in 1st person.  So, I thought about it long and hard, and even lost sleep over the decision.  But in the end I wanted to know E&P on that really personal level.  I didn't want to watch their story happen, I wanted to live it with them - and that's the difference to me.  It's a deeper level of being engrossed in their story.

I am more than half way through writing Never Giving Up, and I can say that I love the insights brought out by it being in first person, I feel like I know Porter much better than I had in the past, and as a reader you will learn more about him too, know him better.

I sincerely hope this wont deter any fans from reading the book and I also hope it wont catch anyone of guard.

Also - I cannot FREAKING wait for you all to see the cover.  It's amazing.  Possibly my most favorite cover yet.  Ever.  If you're a fan of the series, when you see the cover, you'll flip.  Absolutely flip.

I can't remember anything else I wanted to say.  Thank you for reading this and being understanding.  I promise I made the decision I thought was best for the book.

~Anie