If you’ve followed along on social media, you know. I’m a bit stuck on how to write Feral. Something’s been missing, and I can’t get enthused about tapping those keys. But what’s missing? Why am I having so much trouble?

For once, I know how the story ends. Since it involves things that happened leading up to DEAD BEEF, and two characters I know well–namely, Sasha Javan and Martin Spencer–this should be a breeze. It’s all backstory I already know. I also know how this story ends by definition because it sets up DEAD BEEF. I even outlined it!

For a week or so I blamed the outline. Or more to the point, I blamed knowing how it all goes and where it ends as the thing(s) that robbed me of the joy of writing, and hence stalled me. Then I asked myself: what is this story about?

Well, it’s about a girl hacker and a boy hacker, and some financial scheme the boy helps detect, and how the two of them fall in love, but can’t really stay together, and… No, I didn’t know what the story is about. I hadn’t dug deep enough. On Monday I posted an essay on the trap of prosperity. As I wrote it, it dawned on me. That’s what Feral is about. I had a super long blurb-synopsis, and I set it aside to reduced it to this:

How a boy and a girl hacker meet, fall in love, and agree to a life together that may tear them apart.
Early in his career, Martin Spencer finds himself in the epicenter of an investigation to unravel a sophisticated Cyber scam perpetrated against the Stock Market. What he discovers will make him question everything he believes about the reliability and safety of wealth. Feral, the hacker he finds on the other end of the digital heist, will make him face a choice between the quest for prosperity and his desire to live free.

As you can see, while I was at it, I decided to gin up a cover mock-up. The prior one, simple by design, hinted at the About of this story, but didn’t quite catch it. The new one may be a tad busy and still require some work. But as I’ve found in the past, the visual encourages me to write on.

What do you think? Sound like a story you might read? What about those covers? Which do you prefer and/or how would you change it?