Getting it Done

WIP: 80,000 words, and on page 288. Just past two climaxes and still one to go. Well, it's in the denouement stage now, and there are many things that need to be resolved.

First of all, the drug. I never talked about it, but a drug, a very special drug, is introduced in the first book, Killer of Killers. That part of KOK was never resolved, and it's one of the reasons I wanted to write a sequel.

Second of all, Trent's first love. Yoshiko Wada. She is the granddaughter of his Tokyo Shihan, and quite a fighter herself. She has a very small part in KOK, because KOK begins well after the MC, Trent Smith left Japan. Mostly the reader sees her in flashbacks. But in Killer Eyes, she has an active role, even though it remains relatively small.

And lastly the antagonist. There are many, actually, in Killer Eyes, as there are in Killer of Killers, but the main one in the sequel is the Chinese leader of the Killers Guild. She is one tough cookie. She is in and survives both climaxes, and I do insist on tying loose ends. Thus, her affection for Trent peaks, and she can't have anyone in the way. That doesn't bode well for Yoshiko.

There is also another loose end I am tying up. Yes, I do believe in tying these loose ends, and I was at odds for a while trying to figure out how I was going to do it. It wasn't easy. It took a lot of mental struggling with the plot, the subplots, the characters, and their interactions. But I am very near the conclusion. I do believe I'll have the first draft wrapped up by next week.. Just in time for the start of the school year.

It looks like the novel will be close to 90,000 words. KOK ended at 89,000, so it will be a good match. But hey, it's just the first draft and so I haven't even read it through one time yet. KOK's first draft ended at over 100,000. But after so many revisions, it trimmed way down. That's OK. It's what revisions do. So I really have no clue as to the final word count of Killer Eyes. It's still a 'wait and see' deal.