Callie Didn't Die

The third book in the PERILOUS series is under contract with WiDo Publishing right now (yay!) and I'm so super excited about this book. In fact, as I read through my previous books, I'm a bit sheepish at how much I've improved as a writer. That's a good thing, right?

But anyway, I recently reread PERILOUS just as a refresher while writing the third book. And one interesting tidbit keeps sticking out in my mind, and I finally decided to write a blog post about it.

Originally, Callie didn't die.

For those who haven't read the book, Callie is one of the four kidnapped girls who dies in chapter three (so I'm not giving anything away, in case you were worried). Before I rewrote the story to include her death, Callie had a life. In fact, she was the main character. She had interests and hobbies. She even had a budding love life, as Neal (one of the characters in the book) was specifically written to mirror Callie's responsible, protective personality.

In the end, I killed her off because she was too perfect. Her fatal flaw was her lack of flaws. But what if--what if she hadn't died?

I was halfway through ALTERCATION (book 2) when I killed her off in book one, and her character got cut out. She never made it home. She never saw her mom or dad or little brother again. She never met Neal, and he never gets the chance to know what feelings he might have developed for her.

I just keep wondering. What if she had lived? How would that have changed Jaci's story? Amanda's story? Neal's story?

If you've read the books, do share your thoughts. I'd love to know what you think.