$1 from 8/12/14 - 8/19/14
In this YA horror novel, an ancient evil has reawakened on the small island of Raven's Point, eager to cause death and destruction as it did hundreds of years before.
Three teens--troubled basket-ball star Seth McFadden, driven Tavia Burrows, and shy Jane Romano--must battle the evil, armed with their knowledge of their home's violent past and with their newly-developed supernatural abilities.
It's been more than ten years since I wrote Raven's Point. It was published by HarperCollins in 2004. After the rights reverted to me, I decided to publish it as an e-book. I've read it several times in the past few weeks as I proofed the various file types.
It's a strange experience rereading something I wrote so long ago. I saw a lot of things I'd want to change. Which I guess is a good thing. I wouldn't have wanted to learn nothing about writing over the past decade.
One thing I wouldn't change is the character Seth McFadden's eating disorder. I remember talking to my (truly great and extremely supportive) editor about him. She didn't think girls would be able to see him as a romantic hero if he was binging and puking. I agreed then and now that he might appeal to more readers as a hero if he didn't have this flaw. But I'm attracted to flawed and/or damaged characters (see Anthony Fascinelli, my short, dyslexic boy with anger issues in Fingerprints--sometimes published as Echoes--or Michael Guerin in Roswell). And I thought Seth's flaws made him more human. Plus he had a lot of good qualities. Plus, plus eating disorders are something some boys deal with, and I always wanted my YA books to be a place where kids could find characters who felt weird or bad, so those kid readers would feel less alone with whatever they happened to be dealing with.
One thing I would change (although I decided not to try to rewrite history by rewriting a book that had been published) is the EVIL in the story. I thought I had a cool idea for it. I had this notion that creatures evolve in ways that allow them to thrive in their environment. So I thought, hey, I'll have something truly, truly horrible happen in a place that causes all kinds of big, bad emotions (fury and grief and all that). Then I'll have a creature form that feeds on all those big, bad emotions, and ultimately becomes able to draw out those emotions in the beings around it, to become really skilled at finding what feeds it.
Sadly, I don't think I quite pulled it off. Maybe I pulled it off a little, but not entirely. What was in my head didn't quite make it onto the page. It happens. Ten years later, I'm sure it still happens in spots and I won't realize it until ten years from now, if I'm lucky.
I'm going on and on. Let me just say one other thing about Raven's Point. It's gross! It's has truly disgusting parts. Seriously! Fair warning! Because I love horror. I do. But I also wanted there to be love and redemption in the story, not just the vomit-inducing stuff. I wanted it to be about not just the evil in humans, but also the good. My hope is that some of that is in there!