I thought this would be a great blog to talk about The Rena Files. I had a lot of trouble finding my characters again after I wrote the second book, Puzzled. I had written Puzzled in 2010, but left it simmering until last summer. To keep it simple, I was preoccupied. I basically wrote all three Secrets books back to back. The only times I acknowledged The Rena Files was to edit and do rewrites of sections. To make matters worse, I got even more sidetracked with Enchanted. The idea for the series was just one of those all consuming ideas that wouldn't leave my head until i had written it down.
So August 2012, I started looking for Rena and friends again so I could finally write Familiar and Return. I felt like i was relearning everything again all the little mannerisms everyone had. Rena's all important need to snoop. Most importantly, I had to relearn the dynamic between Rena and Jesse. They are very different from Annie and Ian and Max.
Okay back to the story. Somewhere between the fifteenth and the fiftieth rewrite of the Familiar outline. I found the story. I even found my subplot. Everything started to work out and fall into place. Familiar has been one of the hardest stories for me to tell because it's not like the rest of the series.
This is where I go back to The Rena Files and Puzzled.
The Rena Files if you haven't guessed or haven't read (Which i suggest you do. It has been recently revamped to include a snazzy new cover too! Click here for more info) is about Rena Solis. She's sixteen, she's a little paranoid, and she's a little insecure but we can just chalk that up to the fact that she keeping a MEGA secret from her best friend, Caitlin. Rena also happens to be the lucky girl who finds a dead body at the Junior Prom. After a lot of confusion, misunderstandings, and a little help from her family connections. Rena sets out to figure out what the heck is happening at Walterville High.
Puzzled, is book # 2 in the series. It picks up a few months after The Rena Files. Summer is coming to an end and the smell of blood is back in the air. At her summer internship with the Walterville Police Department, Rena finds herself in the middle of the hunt for one the deadliest serial killers and he has been leaving a trail of bodies in her town. (Puzzled has also been revamped and reedited getting it's very own snazzy cover as well. Click here for more info)
I think that is it for now.