The "Other" Ending to Premeditated

A few days before Premeditated hit shelves, I went to Twitter and posed a question: Do you like to know when there was another possible ending to a story that didn't make the cut? It's sort of like asking if people like the alternate scenes on movies, I guess, because all of the answers I got were definite "Yes."

So, guess what? I'm going to discuss the alternate ending to Premeditated. I won't be posting alternate chapters, or talking about the actual end of the novel, however, so there won't be any spoilers for people still or about to read the book. But, just in case, if you don't want to risk spoiling the novel GO AWAY.

Too harsh? Fine. Move along spoiler-haters, nothin' to see here.

Okay, so for those of you who have read the book, you know that the main character - Dinah - has two life-long best friends: Tabs and Brucey. The overwhelming response is that pretty much everyone loves Brucey, the movie-quoting, Star Wars-jailbreaking, klepto-faking, techno-Goth. He's a complicated guy with a loud mouth and a quick quip.

Well, in the "other version" of the story, he's also the one who broke Claire's heart.

You can actually still see some of the set-up for that ending in the story as it is. And yes, it would have been a complete gut-punch of an ending for Dinah to discover that her buddy was the villain rather than the guy she thought it was. Unfortunately, a couple of things happened"

1 - I can't write short to save my life, and the Brucey ending involved a lot more words. Contemporary novels generally top out around 70,000 words, and mine was already over 80,000.

2 - I loved Brucey's voice so much that I decided I wanted him for something else, too, so I didn't make him a "villain." (Villain is in quotes there because the Brucey story was far more complex and involved many, many shades of things both good and bad.)

So there you go -- the thing that might have been.

I'm curious as to which ending those of you who've read the novel think would have been the more powerful one.

(But please, if you answer, do it without using character names so as to not spoil those who don't want to be spoiled.)

Thanks!

MERIDIAN has a cover --

-- And it's very, very shiny!!!

I love this cover. I love the colors and the fact that it's white to contrast the black from the first book. I love that it looks overexposed, because that's a perfect one-word description of Book 2.

The characters find themselves "overexposed." They have to leave the safety of the Arclight , going beyond the borders they've set for themselves, and then beyond those of the Fade hive that inhabits the Dark on the slight chance that someone else is out there. All of the lines that these characters believed marked their world are suddenly being moved or removed, and they're left in the open with nowhere to go but forward, and all of them have to come to grips with secrets they've kept from each other.

Kindle Daily Deal!

ARCLIGHT is $1.99 today on Kindle! Go forth and read!

LINK

Premeditated WINNER!!

The winner of the Premeditated copy is....

ALICIA BATISTA!

Congrats!!!!

I'll be in touch shortly to get your mailing address.

Premeditated Giveaway

Is it really October?

Yikes!

That means Premeditated hits shelves in ONE WEEK!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Ahem... sorry about that.

So what's an author to do when it's a week from publication and she's just received a big shiny box of finished copies in the mail? That's easy -- GIVEAWAY!!!

If you want one, shout it out in the comments and I'll draw a name at the end of the week. Please spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Good luck!

LOOK INSIDE

Anyone want to read a few pages of Premeditated? The Look Inside feature is now live!


Link!

PREMEDITATED WINNER!!!

The Winner this time is:

BROKEN ANGEL!!!

Congrats. Use the contact button to send me your address, and I'll get your book in the mail. :-)

July PREMEDITATED giveaway

I've got an ARC looking for a new home. If you'd like it, then drop me a comment below. I'll fire up the Randomizer in a week and pick a winner.

Good luck!

Secret ARCLIGHT Documents

Top secret files and journal entries relating to the creation of Arclight's darkened world have been uncovered!

Head on over to the Pitch Dark site to see them.
 

PREMEDITATED WINNER!!!

Ye olde Random Number Generator has generated 20 for this drawing, so the winner is:

BRANDY M. BROWN!!!

Congrats. Hit the email button in the left column to give me your details!

Free Stuff Friday -- PREMEDITATED

Hi guys.

Sorry I haven't been around much lately, but I'm knee deep in cranky-inducing edits.

On to the giveaway!

I've got an ARC of PREMEDITATED  to give away to a random commenter. Just leave me a message, and I'll close this thread in a week to draw a winner. It's not the most creative method, but it works.

Please Retweet and Facebook the giveaway. :-)


Here's the blurb:

A week ago, Dinah’s cousin Claire cut her wrists.

Five days ago, Dinah found Claire’s diary and discovered why.

Three days ago, Dinah stopped crying and came up with a plan.

Two days ago, she ditched her piercings and bleached the black dye from her hair.

Yesterday, knee socks and uniform plaid became a predator’s camouflage.

Today, she’ll find the boy who broke Claire.

By tomorrow, he’ll wish he were dead.

Arclight Winners -- Take 2

I didn't hear back from my winners, so I'm going to draw again. This time, ye olde number generator gave me 14 and 9, so:

Sara @ Forver 17 Books

and

Angelica R Jackson

Toss me an email and I'll get your goodies in the mail ASAP!

Look Inside ARCLIGHT

Amazon has finally activated the LOOK INSIDE feature for Arclight! YAY! Now you can check out a chunk of the story (with some omitted pages) before you decide to buy the whole thing.

http://www.amazon.com/Arclight-Josin-L-McQuein/dp/0062130145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367022630&sr=8-1&keywords=arclight#reader_0062130145

BOOK BIRTHDAY!!!

ARCLIGHT IS OUT TODAY!

GIVEAWAY!

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS!

Hey guys!

In honor of ARCLIGHT's almost book birthday, I'm giving away presents! YAY!

I made up a couple of goodie bags to help you survive a world split between light and dark. Each one has:

• A flashlight, for navigating the dark.
• A pair of sunglasses because you need shades in the light.
• A bag of light and a bag of dark M&M (they're plain chocolate, no nuts for those of you who are allergic)
• An Arclight keychain
• An Arclight mousepad
• And, best of all,  AN ARCLIGHT ARC!!!

It's all bundled up in an Arclight canvas bag.

So, if you want to be entered in a drawing to win one of the two bags, just leave me a comment below. And please, Tweet and post this on Facebook.

Thanks!

Arclight... #22

** Arclight has SCARIES!!!**

Eyes appear beside me and before me as I run, shining silver-blue. Fluid faces shift in and out of focus, on even level with my own, then disappear to reform lower, near the ground. I nearly trip on my own feet to stop myself from trampling them.

I dart through a gap in the brush, certain that my leg is ready to quit on me.

For half-a-second, multiple versions of my own face peer back at me, as the Fade try and recreate my features, and I turn away again. Shimmer lines solidify, creating a ghostly barrier of bodies between me and any possible escape route. I can only go where they’ll let me.

Oh God… I’m being herded.

Arclight... #21

** Arclight has SADS!!!**

Fret. Loss. Desolation. Incomplete. Stripped. Vacant.

Ripping, tearing - it's a feeling so intense my knees buckle under the force, and at the point I know my bones are about to shatter in their sockets, it stops.

I feel like I'm shrinking or drowning, and totally alone.

Please... somebody has to be somewhere...

But they aren't. No one's anywhere, not even me.

Arclight... #20

** Arclight has SILLIES!!!**

"Oops?"

"Oops" is not a smart choice of words. In fact, from the look on Anne-Marie's face, "oops" may qualify as the single worst thing that's ever come out of Tobin’s mouth.

"Wait a minute, Annie. Calm down..."

"Duck and cover?" I ask.

"Quickly," Dante says, right before Anne-Marie picks up the can of black paint and tips it over Tobin’s head.

Tobin jabs at her with his paintbrush, leaving a large splotch on her uniform, and she reaches for the closest thing she can get her hands on. She sloshes orange chair paint in Tobin’s direction, but misses wide, hitting one of the younger boys instead.

"Hey!" The boy whose face is now half orange flings the blue paint he's still got in his hand.

Arclight... #19

**Arclight has SMOOCHIES!**

"You know what... new tactic." I shovel the mess of pages, plus the six inch stack of paper work on the teacher's desk into the open drawer and slam it shut. It takes both of is to latch it. "I say we torch it and claim it all got lost in the chaos."

“Deal.”

I face Tobin, and that same jolt goes off like a shock in my chest. I have the sudden desire to look away, but I can't seem to remember how to make my head turn.

Tobin licks his lips. I watch the muscles in his throat as he swallows.

My heels lift off the ground until my weight's on my toes, expectant and strangely hesitant. It's not fear... not exactly, but I'm not quite comfortable with my body remembering how to do something my conscious mind's forgotten.

Every breath draws the scent of him in like oxygen, and then...

Arclight... #18

**Arclight has ACTION!**

Lots of it, in fact - like this passage:

"If we have to run, go limp," Tobin says. "I can carry you faster than you can move on your own."

Before I can protest that I don't need to be carried, Tobin gasps, lurching forward as though someone’s shoved him. The force cascades through our chain of hands. Elbows and knees hit hard on the ground, and the yelps that come after are followed by frantic shushing.

"They're through!" Mr. Pace shouts behind us.

At first, I think he's saying everyone's out of the room, but when he empties a cartridge into thin air, I realize he isn't speaking to us at all. The Fade have broken in.

We’re dead.

"Move! Move! Move!" Lt. Sykes’ high and nasal voice shouts somewhere in the blackout.

Everything goes to pieces. We've only ever marched in silence with no real sense of urgency or danger. Now we're a hive mind with a massive case of brain freeze. All our drills mean nothing, especially for the youngest children who spill out of the rooms on either side of ours, calling for their parents and crying “Fade!” when they run into us because they can’t see to know we aren’t the enemy. 

Their voices are swallowed up by louder sounds as the corridor erupts with gunfire and something that is in no way human.