In which two novels become one ....

The original plan for Ghoulish Happenings was to make two novels out of the major events compassing the first few months in which Wray and Bryce know each other. As I'm over halfway through the stated plot and mid-way past 30K into this draft I've realized that isn't going to work at all. But keeping it feeling as if it was two separate novels might, in the sense of Wray giving the impression to the reader than the ending is where it's at even as the second act kicks into high gear.

Given that the reader will know this -- i.e. because they have half a novel still to read -- I'm not sure how effective a transition it will be, but I'll probably give it a whirl anyway. Turning both novels into one single novel will likely work better in the long run and also help with the pressure-cooker of events that pushes the character toward certain actions.

Things to alter in the next draft:
* Bryce. The story isn't served at all by making him terribly shy nor does it fit the revised ideas of how the various families of magicians work. Or, frankly, his parents wouldn't have put up with that shit. Thankfully, this should be an easy fix overall as I am pretty inconsistent about how shy he is, and when, and why as is.
* The nature and effects of the memory-damaging curse on Wray needs to be fixed, but that's also an easy enough fix overall.
* All the Smiths need to smile and laugh a lot less. The twins and Wray are an exception to this because they aren't, strictly speaking, a part of the natural order of things.
* Show Bryce going to school, doing Family stuff on the computer after and such early on. Have Wray doing chores around the property (handyman stuff) as a way of him paying rent as well.
* The Families of magicians are highly political and secretive. That the town of Nowhere is something of an anomaly -- being outside the perpetual war for status and influence -- needs to come up earlier.

The sequel: I have a few ideas rummaging in my head, a lot of it based around the idea of the Private Investigator as protagonist in urban fantasy. In this case, the series is intended to be about the character starting out on that path, rather than being one from the get-go, which I figure should prove more interesting overall, ditto with thoughts on what day jobs they'll do to pay the bills in the meantime.