FINISHED THE NOVEL. NOW WHAT?

couple kissing on motorcycle

It took ten months, but I finished the first draft of my novel, CRUZ CONTROL. Have you ever taken a risk? I did with this book, going beyond my comfort zone and thinking outside the box. The story involves a biker gang, something I know very little about. It required me to do lots of research and put myself in their shoes. I had to pretend I was a biker dude, asking myself questions like: How would I talk and act? What would I wear and look like? What would I drink and eat? Where would I hang out? You get the idea.
I was shocked by some of the information I found on biker gangs. Some of it so X-rated, it did not make it into my book. Still, I had to show some of the dirty dealings and tough talk of gang members. They constantly shock my main character, a beautiful and successful young woman named Alana Dupree. In a desperate act, she finds herself embedded with the Vipers Biker Gang.  Although not in the biker gang, another character named Mike Cruz is the baddest of the bad in my story. He is a despicable narcissist. I had to go over to the dark side to create him as my antagonist. Another character, a biker known simply as Fin, is the best fighter in the gang. If there is a fight with a rival gang, Fin is the go-to guy. He is a badass, or maybe not. Sometimes I wasn’t sure myself. Since I let the characters take over the story, I wondered where Fin would lead me and the plot.
The draft may be done but there’s still plenty of work to do before my book is print-ready. Look for it to come out in late summer 2017.