We caught up with author Steve Metcalf to discuss his latest novel "Lot 23." It's a sequel to last year's YA fantasy-adventure story "The Merchant of Time."
So what is this story all about? What can we expect from the Secret City?
This story takes place two years after Merchant of Time. Charlie and his family are there. Allison is there. We also get bits with Arthur and Midnight. Past that, it's a largely new cast of characters.
After his ordeal with The Crow, Charlie has been experiencing nightmares. Not every night ... but often enough that they are troubling. He has tried numerous techniques to avoid them, but only really finds solace in lucid dreaming. This is the practice of learning how to recognize when you are in a dream - so you can control it. Many people use lucid dreaming to suddenly take over the reality of the world. They can fly. They are rich. They are powerful beyond belief. Charlie only wants to be able to recognize a nightmare and either wake up ... or defeat it.
Charlie, unfortunately, is too good at it. Not only does he soon gain the ability to control his dreams, but he accidently figures out how to escape his dreams into the dreams of others. After that, as you can imagine, things begin to go a little sideways.
Where did the idea for this story come from?
I seem to be drawn to the world of dreams ... and how they often overlap with the dreamer's real life. I have written many stories taking this overlap to its extreme edge. The screenplay "Ruthless," the novel "Sketch" and the screenplay "Pieces of Eight" all join "Lot 23" as stories that explore the relationship between the dreaming and the waking worlds.
Goodness, even two of my Event stories - "Ink" and "The Healer's Curse" - have to do with people waking up in strange situations.
Lot 23, though, when compared to the others, gave me the room and freedom to explore the dreams themselves. What would happen if we took these nightmares that a young boy might have ... and then turn them on their ear? Twist them so that by the conclusion of the story, Charlie's weaknesses become his strengths. The nightmares become his power. I've never cheered or laughed as much as I was writing the chapter with Charlie facing Simon Pace on the deck of the battleship toward the end of the story. It was fun watching everything come together ... all the seeds that were planted during the story sprouted slowly through those two concluding dreams.
Were there any major cuts or additions that came to you during the revision process?
Not really, actually. In fact, the story happened rather organically ... The story started as a "page a day challenge" participant. A bunch of us writers decided that from February through, geez, I think it was through October, we would each start a new project and write a page each day. My project was "Lot 23." I think at the time I had the general idea in mind and the first couple nightmares - but a lot of the plot elements fell into place as the story went on. Simon Pace wasn't even in the original plot - Boss Fenix was going to be the main antagonist but the story, as they often do, chose to write itself. And it became clear that there was a dark entity locked away somewhere in the Inside that was going to try to control Charlie for his own benefit.
I liken this story to a Reacher book. Lee Child, author of the first 25 or so Jack Reacher books, is famous for just starting to write and letting the story lead him through a path of discovery. Sure, he goes back and does some editing or revising when a new thought pops into his head - maybe planting earlier seeds or red herrings - but for the most part, he lets the story unravel on its own time. That's really how this one happened. It was a glorious feeling. I might never get to do it again, but I barely plotted this one in advance and I feel the story came out great.
What's next for the secret city?
That is both an excellent and a terrifying question.
Like most writers, I have a limited amount of influence over my muse so sometimes I can direct the flow of creativity ... and other times I simply have to follow along. While on a recent vacation, I looked at about a dozen questions that could lead to the next story. Just as Merchant and Lot were led by questions (What would happen if you inherited an hour? What would happen if you could escape your dreams into the dreams of others?) I had asked myself several of these types of questions looking for the inspiration of the third story. I think I have it in What would you do if you found a folder of photos that chronicled important times in your life ... but there was no camera present?
The plot of this one slowly unspooled to become what I'm calling "The Blank Photo" and it's kind of a neat heist story that bounced back and forth between Charlie's world, the Outside, and Arthur's world, the Inside. I'm not sure when I'll get to write it, though. Maybe early next year ... ? I still want to delve deeper into the Zombie King's history ... or even what he does after the end of "Lot 23." The ending of that one certainly felt like it was setting up ol' growly to be the antagonist of the next story. Maybe I should start working out that plot.
What other stuff are you working on right now?
Like every other writer on the planet, I've got an ever-growing list of works-in-progress. I try to keep them organized using a combination of white boards and manilla folders. The ones closest to completion are Phoenix Hill, Kill Depth and The Four Demons. I've completed the first draft of PH and have a list of notes from peer readers and my own revisions I want to make.
Kill Depth and Demons are just about tied around 10k words written. I'll likely finish the former first, then write my story for the next Event collection, and then write Demons. But, who knows? I want to write the next Secret City story. I want to write another ghost hunter story with my King Paranormal Investigation guys. As I said earlier, however, I'm only partially in control. It's like I have one hand on the steering wheel of the bus and my muse has the other.
(Image by Eden Moon at Pixabay)
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