Page 17 of Under the Mistletoe
“What makes you think it was?—”
“You asked for three extensions.” Mark gave him a pointed look before releasing a deep breath. “Even great authors have roadblocks, writing blocks, or a manuscript that won’t behave.”
Logan stared at the keys of his computer. They weren’t backing down on this.
Sandy’s gaze seemed to pin him through the camera. “We think we should bring in a writing coach.”
Logan sank back in his chair and laced his fingers across his stomach. Pulling in the anger. “A writing coach?”
“She’s another of my clients, and she’s written over a hundred novels herself and is a master of story craft.” Mark spoke up. “I’ve already talked to her, and she’s open to it if you are.”
“How would we meet?” Would he have to travel somewhere?
“She’ll set up a weekly Zoom meeting with you. We already set your first one up for Wednesday.”
Weekly meetings? As in the internet? As in he couldn’t go back to his cabin.
“And if I say no?” Because he really wanted to get back to his cabin and away from here.
Sandy shrugged. “Worst case scenario, leave the series unfinished.”
The words hit him in the gut. No fourth book would mean he’d have to return the hefty advance payment they’d given him. He was good with money, so had enough in his bank account to return it, but where would that leave fans like Devin, who were counting down the days? Not to mention that would be the end of any future in the industry he might have. “So, it’s the writing coach or my career is over?”
“There is another option I don’t like. We could bring in a ghostwriter or a coauthor—with your permission, of course. We could find someone who understood your voice.” Sandy shrugged as if it were no big deal. That was a very big deal. “But we don’t want to do that.”
Good. Because Logan didn’t want that either. So if he wanted his characters to get the ending they deserved, he had to play ball. He rested forward on his elbows. “Okay, so coach it is. Do I meet with her for the next year?”
“No.” Sandy flipped through a notebook in front of her. “Production is still trying to make space for book four. And in the meantime, we don’t want that to slow down your momentum with readers or draw concern from the movie producer.”
He nodded as if he were tracking, but he really didn’t know where they were going with this.
“This is why we’ve invited Jane from marketing to this meeting.” Sandy motioned to her. “She has a great plan. I’ll let her explain it to you.”
“Hi, Logan.” Jane was younger than his editor and agent by quite a few years, and if he had to guess, fairly close to his age. And by the way her cheeks seemed to pink up, probably a fan. It was times like these when he was glad the world didn’t know he was Victor Holt. “So, the idea is that you write a Countdown to Christmas serial novella. It would take place in the same world but not about Bastian and Ellia.”
They wanted another story before he even started book four? He didn’t like that idea. “What do you mean by serial novella?”
“Starting December first,” Jane continued, “you’ll release a chapter every day to your newsletter subscribers. With the final chapter concluding on the twenty-fourth of December. I’ll set it up, so you’ll just need to email your scene to Christina, and she will send it to me.”
“Christina?” Logan was getting completely lost.
“The writing coach.” Mark took the floor again. “You see, this will be a great way for you and the coach to work together on a fresh story while at the same time building your following. They follow the series, but we want them to follow you, otherwise no one will follow you to your next series.”
“But no one knows who Victor Holt even is.” He hated the idea of trying to maintain an online presence.
“And we’ll keep it that way. But Victor Holt needs a following.” Sandy punctuated her words by slapping the table in front of her.
“So, we’ll advertise this novella, and people can sign up for your newsletter to get the story one chapter at a time.” Jane’s calm voice was no doubt trying to reverse the panic that was building in him.
“We want this novella to follow a romance, because that’s the main area that needs work in your story. The way you ended the romance between Bastian and Ellia was…well, it was terrible.” Sandy’s nose curled in disgust. “But if you follow another couple, you can get a better feel of the romantic story beats.”
Logan ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t write romance. I write fantasy.”
“True, but since books one through three had a fair amount of romantic tension between Bastian and Ellia, we can’t turn out book four like this. Sixty-eight percent of your readers are women, and based on the social posts, they’re not in it for your battle scenes. They’ve been waiting for three books for these two to get together. If we release…this”—she regarded the manuscript like she’d just found mold on her sandwich—“there would be riots.”
When he didn’t comment, Sandy’s face neared the camera. “You’ve created these expectations in your readers, and now you have to meet them. Whether Bastian and Ellia get a happy ending or end in tragedy is up to you, but it needs an ending. So use the Countdown to Christmas serial to get a sense of the romantic beats of a story. Then perhaps you’ll know what you want to do with Bastian and Ellia.”
“So I’m supposed to make up a random story?” This sounded like a crash-and-burn idea to him.
