Doves vs. Crows

While writing my debut novel, Enemies of Doves, I more or less had two moods:

“This is really good!”
“This is s#%!”

I still have those two alternating and antithetical thoughts as I write A River of Crows. But since this is my second book, I have fun new doubts too:

“Is this book as good as my first?”
“Why am I writing this one so much faster? Am I rushing it?”
“Are the twists big enough?”
“Is this too dark for my readers?”
“Are the characters as likeable? Are they too flawed?”

I don’t think it’s possible to be a writer and not live in a state of paralyzing self-doubt with rare moments of audacious confidence that keep you from setting your entire manuscript on fire.

I gained an audience with Enemies of Doves, and I’d like to keep them, but I’m not writing a sequel. This is a fresh new story that will hopefully reach new readers, but I really want to keep my established ones as well. I’ve been asked a lot if A River of Crows is similar to Enemies of Doves, so I decided to break down the similarities and differences from concept to the story in a blog.

Idea

The idea of Enemies of Doves started with an idea for the plot twist that my best friend came up with and a title I’d wanted to use awhile. I built the entire story around those two elements. For A River of Crows, the idea came from a small creek and a song on the radio. I was driving through Texas when I passed a creek named Crow’s Nest Creek. The name stirred me. I liked the idea of using a bird motif in all my books. At that moment, an old Keith Whitley song came on the radio— I’m Over You. A plot began to form. I decided something terrible had happened at this creek that left a family estranged. I knew the father and daughter were huge Keith Whitley fans and that the father went to prison the day Keith Whitley died. (I had no idea why yet). This song is about the loss of a romantic relationship and pretending you’re okay when you’re not, but I knew in my story my main character was lying to herself about the pain associated from the loss of a relationship with her father.

Writing Process

Doves took FOREVER to write and edit—a little over three years. I knocked out the first draft for Crows in about four months and am almost finished with my second draft. I predict I’ll be completely finished with my final draft by August, so about one year total. I owe some of that to more time at home due to COVID, but most of it to not having a toddler around. But when I think about the experience, writing at the park while my sweet little boy played was such a special time that I’ll never forget. Writing this one sitting in my living room on the computer doesn’t have that same emotional tie for me, but man was it easier.

Tone

Crows carry a darker connotation than doves, and that’s a fitting analogy for my two books as well. A River of Crows is a darker story, it’s not Stephen King dark, but it’s darker than my debut, no doubt. A few people told me that Enemies of Doves was too dark for them because they thought it was going to be Christian fiction. That’s just not the genre I write in.

I do feel that in spite of some darkness in Doves, it ended with a sense of hope and redemption in spite of great loss. I think Crows will leave you with that same feeling.

Characters

The main compliment I’ve gotten in reviews for Doves is my character development. I think this is the area I excel in as a writer. I spend a lot of time creating characters and put tons of thought into their strengths, weaknesses, and emotional wounds.

I used the same creation process for both books, so I feel all my characters are equally developed. These in Crows are certainly just as “real” to me as Joel, Clancy, Lorraine, and Garrison. However, the flaws might be a bit more prominent for a few characters in this one. These are people who have made some big life altering mistakes and I do sometimes worry people won’t connect with them the way they did with my characters in Doves.

My original plan for Doves was to have three point of view characters, all male. However, Lorraine sort of came to life to me and demanded a voice, so she became a point of view character as well. I had planned for Crows to have three point of view characters, two females and one male,—however, the further I got into it, I felt this was the girls’ story to tell, so I made some changes. That male character is still very important, we are just never inside his head. That’s not to say this is a women’s fiction story, because it’s definitely not, but the story was just better served using all female narrators.

Structure/Setting

Like Enemies of Doves, A River of Crows is set in two timelines and the back-and-forth structure remains. I think I’ve done better with that this time when it comes to revealing things at the right time and in the right timeline. Doves was set in the ’30s through ’90s with the main timelines being in the ’40s and 1991. Crows is set from the ’70s-2008 with the main timelines taking place in 1988 and 2008.

Both stories are set in East Texas. In Doves, I used real towns that held meaning from my childhood, but in Crows I invented a town and a creek so I didn’t have to do as much research.

I got a lot of compliments about the ‘90s nostalgia factor of Enemies of Doves and I feel I’ve kept that up in A River of Crows when it comes to all things ‘80s. It’s been fun!

The Twist

Doves has two pretty big twists near the end that most didn’t see coming. Crows has twists as well, but not as big as the ones in Doves, in my opinion. And the biggest twist comes in the middle of the book, not the end. Often, I wonder if these twists are enough, or if the reader will be expecting something bigger as they approach the ending. I’m super anxious to get the book in the hands of some beta readers so they can tell me what they figured out and didn’t. I don’t want anything to be too obvious, but I also want to include enough clues that readers can think back and say, “Oh yeah, that makes sense.” It’s a tough balance.

Genre

Doves struggled in many ways because it didn’t fit squarely into one genre. This was a frequent issue for agents and something my first editor warned me about. It’s a mystery/suspense, but also historical fiction, a family drama, and a romance. I set out to make Crows fit into one genre; but I guess formulas just aren’t my thing. However, this one doesn’t suffer quite the identity crisis my first book did.

A River of Crows will definitely be classified as a mystery, but it’s not necessarily a whodunnit. I’d say it’s probably equal parts family drama and mystery with a little romance thrown in. Like Doves, the drama and dysfunction focuses on families, and in particular, siblings.

Fun fact: I told everyone there was no romantic storyline in Crows and there wasn’t going to be. However, my main character fell in love with a very minor character who was originally only going to be in a few scenes. This phenomenon is hard to explain to non-writers, but these people that exist only in my mind somehow do develop a mind of their own. Yeah, I might be crazy.

Themes

Enemies of Doves and A River of Crows share some common themes—Trauma (specifically childhood trauma and PTSD as a result of combat), justice, redemption, lost love, and the power of childhood memories.

However, the main theme of Crows is a new one for me to explore—revenge.

Music

I wrote most of Doves at a park listening to the breeze through the trees, cars driving by, and my little boy laughing. However, in the late-night editing phases, I played a ‘90s country station on Pandora just to get myself in the ‘90s frame of mind. I also listened to a few ‘40s songs.

For Crows, I feel like music (and Keith Whitley) are my muses. A lot of people say they can’t write while listening to songs, but I couldn’t have written this book without my personal Spotify playlist. I started it with just a few Keith Whitley songs and it’s since grown to over 90 songs from various genres, artists, and years, all with meaning to the story. I’ll blog about that once the book is out because it would give too much away now.

I actually wasn’t some huge Keith Whitley fan before I started writing this book. Don’t get me wrong, he’s great and I’ve always enjoyed his music, but it would have made more sense for me to make my characters Garth Brooks fans since he’s my favorite. However, there is just something about Whitley’s songs and tragic story that lined right up with the story I wanted to tell.

For the Birds

I spent a lot more time researching crows than doves and found them to be a lot more interesting. I worked the crow motif deeper into the thread of this book than I did with doves in my first one. Which bird will I use for my next book? Hard to say, but cardinals are my favorite so I’m hoping an idea for that might present itself. (I honestly wasn’t really a bird fan before I started writing oddly enough, but they’ve definitely grown on me and become more interesting to me).

And the winner is….

So, I guess the final question is which book do I think is better? I don’t know! Most of the time I think A River of Crows is head and shoulders above Enemies of Doves, and other moments where I worry it’s going to be a giant disappointment.

I can say with 100% certainty say that my writing has improved with book two, but as far as the overall story and characters…well….I guess I’ll just have to leave that up to readers like you.