My Story For The Week Of 03/17/2024

I am diligently working on the next few books in the “Eddie Ankin” series. I expect to publish the second in the series next month, with a novella to follow the month after, followed by the third full-length novel shortly after that. I started working on book two, “The Crew” in July last year and finished it in October. I then set about revising it.

During this time, I realized that I was rushing Eddie’s story. Eddie is meant to be a real character, not just an action hero. I like reading about people and characters who find themselves at a crossroads in their lives and have to make a choice. Eddie Ankin finds himself at a crossroads, much like we all do at various times in our lives. He has been stuck for several years since his wife, Beth, died. He is getting a little too old to be a Hollywood stuntman, and the question of what he is going to do with his life is one he has been putting off. Well, nothing like being accused of murder to shock you out of your funk and get on with your life (read “The Double” Book I for that story -JE). The question now is: what to do next?

After I finished Book 2, I realized that Eddie’s predicament didn’t leave much room for answering that question. At the time, I was also thinking about Book 3, and I realized that the story I had in mind worked better with Eddie’s character arc. As I started getting deeper into Book 3 while simultaneously revising Book 2, I kept having this thought that Book 3 should be Book 2.  

I was still mulling this change as I headed to Hawaii for a family vacation last month. Like Eddie, I was at a crossroads about what to do next.

Stuck, I figured why not let Eddie decide for himself. So I sent him to Hawaii too.  

For several days, I had Eddie float around the ocean, learn to surf, and eat Kozo sushi while I waited for him to tell me what should be next for him. Almost everything motivating Eddie was happening in Book 3. It was then that I decided to switch the books and publish Book 3 first (as Book 2).  

Of course, being who he is, Eddie didn’t just laze around while in Hawaii. He got himself mixed up with a protest mob, locked horns with the billionaire owner of a luxury hotel, hooked up with his surfing instructor, and squared off with the leader of a local surf gang, all because of an unearthed ancient Hawaiian burial site and the Hawaiian legend of the Night Marchers. So, I decided to write that story as a novella, which I plan to release between Book 2 and 3 in the next few months. Hopefully, this novella will be a fun read and offer more insight into Eddie as a character.

From a publishing and readership perspective, this actually might work in my favor (at least I hope it will). When I first started indie publishing, the advice I got was to write in a series and stockpile 3-4 books, which I could then rapid-release to give readers looking for a new crime thriller series a chance to really sink their teeth in and hopefully become lifelong fans.  

This reminded me a little of Hollywood having an entire season of scripts written before they rolled cameras on a single scene. My first novel, “The Strange Crimes of Beatrice Clover,” was a standalone story, so I had no idea how that tale and those characters might continue as a series.  

Plus, I was impatient. I wanted to publish my books as I wrote them—I still do.

And yet, when it came to Eddie Ankin, it felt that the right way to tell his story, to properly let him develop was to release Book 3 as the second in the series. So, for now, that’s the plan.  

In the meantime, I have also begun the work on releasing the audio book versions of The Double and Beatrice Clover. I am working with Eleven Labs and using AI to create a narrator for the books. In fact, one of those narrators might be me. I have uploaded my voice to Eleven Labs, which the AI can model and use as a narrator (for my books; please don’t use my voice ;-) 

I think that’s pretty cool. I also think the discussion about AI and its eventual impact on our lives is complex and probably worthy of its own lengthier blog post. However, I am a realist about the fact that AI is here to stay and that, used the right way, in the right hands, it can be a force multiplier for creativity and output.

What are your views on AI narrators compared to human narrators? Do you think AI can capture the essence of a story just as well?

What about more broadly? Do you believe AI will enhance or replace human creativity in some areas?

I still plan to record my books with a professional human actor as the narrator. Perhaps I will also record others in the future, serving as the narrator (without using the AI version of me). However, both of these efforts require more time, money, and technical assistance than I am currently able to coordinate.  

Depending on how all this turns out, I may offer a premium human-narrated version of the audiobooks for direct sale, or perhaps those will be give-aways for paid subscribers. I don’t know, but the plan is to create an AI version and a human version. My novels, however, remain, and shall remain, written by me.

Hearing about the writing and revising process, including the decision to switch the order of books, offers a peek behind the curtain of storytelling. Does knowing about this process change how you view a series or book?