Writing of Ruins

This week I should be finished with my editorial changes on my second Paizo Pathfinder novel,  Stalking the Beast, which I’ve been working on steadily. Ideally I’ll have time to reach the final page then set it aside for a day or two so I can see the whole thing with fresh eyes right before I turn it over. I find that I miss things unless I can walk away from the work for a little while.

As I discussed the cover some months back with series editor James Sutter I chose a scene I thought would be dynamic. And I recall suggesting that perhaps there should be some ruins in the background. In the draft at that time, there were no ruins, but I never like taking my characters (or my readers) somewhere unless it’s interesting to look at, so it was something I intended to go back and correct. When the art came back, there were some pretty interesting ruins in the scene, so during the rewrite I’ve found myself modelling my descriptions on the artist’s depiction. Which reminds me, I still don’t know the cover artists’ name! I’ll have to write James and find out, because I’d like to thank him or her for the inspirational work.