Moonlight Murders

I've been thinking a bit about the cover art for Moonlight Murders. Perhaps it is a little early to do so, since I only finished chapter two yesterday, but I thought it would be best to be prepared. Here is what I would like the Moonlight Murders title to look like on the cover:

I'm debating whether or not have the two moons as seen here or have on regular O and one moon as an O. Right now, I do like it like this, but it is subject to change. I have ideas about the rest of the cover art, but I haven't bothered to look into the pictures and the like yet.

I have been working on an outline for the book too. I typically don't do outlines, but I thought I might should try it with this book. So far, I have written down basics through chapter seven. I might write more on it in a little bit. I'm rather bored right now, since I'm waiting for two test takers to be finished with their examinations.

Moonlight Murders - Chapter Two

I finished writing chapter two of Moonlight Murders today. It took me two days to write the chapter, since I was interrupted on Tuesday and didn't get back to it until today. I like where it is going so far, and it's so much fun to delve into their backgrounds more. In Chapter Two, we get a glimpse of Liam O'Hare's background. I won't go into it here, unless you beg me. I'm not one to keep my own secrets well. *laughs* I'm taking my time with this story in a way though because I would like for it to be 50,000-60,000 words in length. So far, the story is 4,360 words. I would like to write two chapters a week, but I am going to be realistic and say one chapter a week. I still want to keep the one chapter a week for The Phoenix Prophetess, and it does come first on my writing schedule. It would be nice to finish Moonlight Murders in two-three months though. Once I finish writing and editing it, I do plan to submit it to Mystic Moon Press. For one, I can't send it anywhere else because of my contract. For two, I really want to have it published there and hope it is long enough to be in print. The public library that I work for has already said that they would buy my book for people to check out, if it comes out in print. That means I could be at work and check out my book to someone. *grins* That would be the coolest thing ever! Maybe tomorrow if I get a chance I could begin writing chapter three. Plus, I can't forget that I need to start coming up for ideas in the wizards anthology that my good friend Christine told me about. I definitely want to write a short story for it, but I do have a while.

Moonlight Murders

I've started writing another story today. I have been wanting to write something else lately besides just The Phoenix Prophetess. Typically, I can finish my chapter a week with it on Monday. Unfortunately, that leaves the other four days of work for me to have little to do at times. I've been tossing around various ideas, but I've been so tired and lethargic about it that I hadn't gotten any other writing started. I think I might be a little depressed now that I don't have The Case of the Tom Cat still coming out. I was so excited about it, and then it came out, and there was nothing else to get excited about, if that makes any sense. So, I finally thought about some things, and I decided to begin writing off and on Moonlight Murders. I suppose you would call it a sequel to The Case of the Tom Cat, but it is not exactly a short story. True, I don't know how long it will turn out to be, but I'm writing it in chapters, and my goal is that it is over 20,000 words. I figure I'll just write it as I have time and it comes to me. When it is finished, it is finished. Today I began chapter one as well as research on various things. I didn't do any research last time when I wrote The Case of the Tom Cat, but Moonlight Murders requires it.

Here is what the basic storyline is about:
The past three months on the full moon, three people have been brutally murdered. The first one was Julie Page, a former gal from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in London. The second was Michael Weatherby, who was a witness to the destructive fire at Theatre Royal that killed 186 people. The third was George Halloway, who was laid off from his textile working job. On the body of Michael Weatherby, an article about textile factory closings was discovered. On the body of George Halloway was an article on prostitution. All three people were interviewed by Charlotte Parker in 1887. All three were dead, and it looked like someone involved with her prosititution article would be next. Could Madame Marie of the Tom Cat be the next victim? Charlotte has come once again to Liam O'Hare and Matthew Johnson to ask their assistance on solving these murders before the next full moon arises.

There will be new characters and more background on Liam O'Hare, Matthew Johnson, and Charlotte Parker in this upcoming story. I am writing it a little different as well. There are times when Dr. Johnson won't be around, so I've opted to write the story in third person to make it flow more easily. I will have to see how that works, and I might change it in the end back to first person and having Dr. Johnson tell the story, but we'll have to see. It'll be fun to have a side project to work on besides The Phoenix Prophetess.