Dropping the F-bomb / SHOT THROUGH THE HEART

Last night, I clicked compile in the Scrivener file for SHOT THROUGH THE HEART, the first non-Cullen book I’m going to publish and maybe, just maybe, the start in a new series. It’s got vampires and werewolves and stuff, and is in no way linked to Cullen.
Don’t get too excited, that’s my “writing” phase done, it’s now fully into the editing phase. There’s a structural edit going on just now – it might be able to skip straight into full line edit, but I doubt it. I expect to be able to publish it in mid-to-late September, depending on how that all goes.
Anyway, one of the big things is that there’s absolutely no swearing at all, whatsoever. The harshest curse is maybe a bloody or a Jesus. I wanted to see if I could write without all the Bain effing and blinding – keen readers will notei that DYED IN THE WOOL actually had the C-bomb in twice, entirely in context, of course.
It’s been an interesting experience as my fingers seem to have muscle memory over the F, U, C and K keys on my MacBook, and the keys are less white and more grey. It’s in context with the book – the main character is an academic – so it’s not feeling too forced.
Also, there’s no explicit reference to brands – something I’m a bit conscious of having done.
One thing about this book is that it could form the basis of a series. I’ve got about 1/3 of the sequel plotted out in my head – whether I actually write it remains to be seen.
One of things I wanted to do was diversify my books from the core Cullen series into something a bit different but with similar themes and style. We’ll see how it goes and whether that sequel gets written. If it does, I’m going to steal the CRASH INTO MY ARMS title from Cullen.
The next thing for me is to graft out the full outline for BOTTLENECK, Cullen book 5. Hopefully it won’t be as tortuous to write as DYED IN THE WOOL was. Or as long.
— Ed