Camp NaNo Update: How it has been going

Ah, in case the fact that I didn't post anything last week wasn't enough of an indicator; April sort of chewed me up and spat me back out.

Not necessarily in a bad way, I've just been extraordinarily busy.

April 1st rolled around, and I opened up my laptop ready to write the heck out of Harbinger, only to find an email in my inbox telling me that my editor was done with SoS. I set to work immediately on incorporating her edits then after that, I had only to finish reading it and I would be done. So, I decided to just go ahead and read it. I ended up finishing SoS ten days earlier than I had been intending to publish it, so I just went ahead and published it early.

With that done, I turned my attention back to Harbinger, trying to work on it between work shifts as I picked up extra hours.

But then I got back my edits of MoC and I decided, what the hey? I'm going to publish that on May 1st rather than May 31st. (More on that at the end of this post)

Oh, and I also had to listen to ACSoM's audiobook (which is really good btw) so that I could approve it to be released, so that should go live in a few weeks once ACX approves it on its end.

All of this to say that I haven't even made it to 20k in Harbinger, but I'm working on it! Maybe this week I won't have extra work shifts, I'm writing this early but I'm hoping that I'll be done with MOC and ACSoM's audiobook and I can try to write a whole hecking ton. Once MoC is done, there are no more distractions. No more books that will release before Harbinger so it shall have my undivided attention and hopefully, I'll finish it fairly quickly after that.

Now a little more about A Matter of Curiosity's Release...

Not only is it officially releasing on May 1st now (which is less than a week away Eeeee!), but I'm also doing Pre-Orders for it. This is my first ever attempt at doing Pre-Orders and I'm not doing it through Amazon (although I plan on doing ebook Pre-Orders for Harbinger as well). No these are Pre-Orders for signed paperback copies bought through me.

You can find out all of the information you need and order here.

You can order just MoC or both MoC and ACSoM. Either order you do, you will receive a free art print of Alicia and Dante.

So, what are you waiting for? Fill out the form and prepare to get sucked away to an insanely whimsical adventure!

Anyway, that's all I have popped in to say. It's back into the writing cave for me.

A Season of Subterfuge, Courtiers, and Wars Councils Release Party

 No, you did not read that title wrong. Your eyes are not deceiving you. I did indeed finish SoS, and yup, yeah, it's published!!!!

I'm still essentially in shock over this. Pretty sure I'm probably dreaming becuase I thought so many times that there was no way I was ever going to actually finish this.

I published the first version of Time of Trepidation in 2016. Now bear in mind that I did republish both Week of Werewolves and Time of Trepidation, (WoW in 2017 and ToT in 2019), so I spent a lot of time on rewriting the first two books. But essentially it's been six years. Six years trying to finish SoS. And I've finally done it!

It ended up being over 600 pages long. And it has pretty much EVERYTHING going on in it. All of those things that have been slowly building up in the last two books comes to a head in this one. And just EVERYTHING happens.

Eastons are kissed.
Clint sasses literally everyone.
People nearly die.
People DO die.
Someone catches a cold.
Chelsea has at least three mental breakdowns.
Alexis was just amazing, okay? He can do no wrong.
Bobby is the voice of reason, as per usual.

The romance is strong with this one. Both old and new ships sail.

There's a lot of trauma. Also some assassination attempts. Oh, and a zombie king.
There's a dragon battle that has to be one of the most epic things I've written to date.

But most of all. The prophecies are fulfilled.

Thrust into a fight seven hundred years in the making, Chelsea and her friends find themselves against an immortal emperor. If they return the true heir of Ione to her rightful throne, then they will finally be free of the magical world of Amar. But that’s easier said than done. They will need the support of the other kingdoms of Amar if they hope to stand a chance at defeating Axius. But who would follow four kids into battle?

As assassins hound their every step, Chelsea and her friends struggle to find a way to call a War Council against Axius. Chelsea travels north to Renlain a land of dragons and secrets. With Easton as her only ally, she must learn to navigate a world where ballrooms are the battlegrounds and coy smiles hide deadly intents. And it seems that everyone with any amount of power wants them dead. As if having to constantly be on guard to avoid death via a poisoned drink or an assassin's blade is not enough, Chelsea also has to face her conflicting feelings for Easton.

Survival isn’t enough. They have to find a way to start this war. And they have to win it. Or else they will never get home. But victory will not come without a cost and to win they must sell their consciences. How far are they truly willing to go to complete this quest and get home?

Get Your Copy Now

BUT that's not the only bit of news I have for you. No, no, I have been quite busy this week. I've also opened up a Street Team, called Nicki's Dragons, and I'm hoping that you will join it. You can find out all of the details (including what exclusive goodies I am offering to street team members) and sign up here.

I have four (fairly good) reasons you should sign up for my street team:

1— Free books. All of my stories will be made available to street team members including stories that haven't even released yet

2— Soon this is going to be one of the only places you will be able to get my books for free. The other place being my newsletter which will occasionally be offered ARC copies as well. So, if you don't sign up for the street team definitely make sure that you sign up for my newsletter otherwise you're going to be missing out on so many opportunities. You can sign up for that here.

3— I'm running an exclusive giveaway for street team members. Everyone who joins my street team this month is automatically entered to win a signed print copy of Of Gold and Iron, as well as a coaster and an art print

4— It would make my day if you signed up :)

So, what are you waiting for?

Become a dragon.

And then as a final bit of news, two more of my books are available in audiobook now. A Time of Trepidation, Pirates, and Lost Princesses and Of Gold and Iron.

So, if audiobooks are your thing, I now have six works available in that format, you can purchase them through Audible. I also have a limited number of free codes that will be available to street team members if you would prefer that to an E-copy of my books.

So definitely check that out. And don't forget to sign up for my street-team, and snag your own copy of SoS while you're at it.

Writing Multiple Series in a World: Part Two

 All right, it's time for the second part of my series on writing multiple series in a world.

Why Do I Write Multiple Series in One World? (March)

What Does Writing Multiple Series in One World Look Like? (April)

How Do I Write Multiple Series in One World? (May)

Today's question I'm answering is, what does writing multiple series in one world look like?

Well, for one it looks like this:

A drawing of all my Ruskhazar main characters as drawn by myself

And this:

The Amar covers I have to date

But in all seriousness, allow me to describe what publishing multiple books in one world is like.

It's a little like having one giant series, but also a little like having separate individual series. It's somehow both at the exact same time.

On one hand these are totally separate series, no matter how interconnected they may be, they are telling their own story. No matter how many guest appearances and crossovers there are, each series has its own set of main characters. Each series has a different vibe (I would just have it all be the same series if these were not the case). These series are unique and separate from each other, they are not the same even if they are set in the same world.

On the other hand, well they are interconnected, and characters do meet up and have relationships with each other. I have some main characters who actually straight up hate each other's guts. Some characters are related to someone from an entirely different series, and some meet relations of my other main characters. For instance... and I won't say which series these are from to keep spoilers at a minimum, but I have one main character at one point murder the brother of a main character from a totally different series. So... yeah, stuff that happens in one series does sometimes affect what goes on in the other.

Even in A Tale of Gods and Glory which I consider pretty much its own little island because it takes place for the most part in an isolated part of Ruskhazar and the majority of the cast remain in that story apart from a couple of brief cameos... well, even that story has an affect on Ruskhazar as a whole. A few of my main characters in Rage Like the Gods are huge fans of Taliz. Even though Taliz is not explicitly in that series (if he does make an appearance it probably wouldn't be for more than like five minutes), I have characters who look up to him. Eirik and Dagmy want to model after him (Eirik by being able to tell a tale like his and Dagmy by becoming a legend like him) and another of my characters Hakon models the way he dresses after the way that Taliz was said to dress, straight down to an earring.

So yeah, your books are going to be connected, even if they are very, very loosely connected they will still be connected. I mean if not then what's the point of even setting it in the same world?

Which means that writing multiple books in one world involves a lot of figuring out of timelines especially if these books take place around roughly the same time. As an author you always need to know where your characters are at all times, even if they are not necessarily all on the scene. Well, when you write multiple series in a world, you have to do that but you also have to keep track of where all the characters in each series are at. You can't very well accidentally have them visit the same city at the same time and then not even meet. Imagine how upset the readers would be. Now that can be something as simple as "they're at their home" because either their story hasn't begun yet or it has already happened. In other cases, like in Rage Like the Gods and the Blood of the Gods Trilogy, all the characters in the Blood of the Gods trilogy are introduced in RLtG before their own books releases (although chronologically the first Blood of the Gods book is actually in the past of those particular main characters) so I have to figure out what books they are in and in what books they are... busy (aka having their own story told).

Complicated family trees are a must. I have one family—and oh my gosh, this is about to get convoluted—but anyway I have one family in Ruskhazar, the Kotovs. Meruna Kotov is one of my main characters in RLtG, she is an only child, however her father had two siblings who have since been disowned. An uncle and an aunt. The aunt Bryn is one of the main characters in An Assassin's Guide to Cheating the Gods (Blood of the Gods book one), she has two daughters. One is a side character in An Immortal's Guide to Betraying the Gods (Blood of the Gods book two), and the other is one of the main characters in the Ancient Gods trilogy. Meruna's uncle is a powerful necromancer, the foil of one of the main characters in Immortal's Guide and a key player in the Ancient Gods trilogy. That's one family, but three main characters in three separate series. And don't even get me started on the legacy of Elwis the Eel...

Personally, I thrive off of complicated family ties, relationships, and interconnections. I have such fun figuring all these relations out. One time I sat down and realized (completely without even trying) that all of my characters in Ruskhazar were pretty much connected (with the exception of perhaps Taliz because like I said, he is an island) they all either know each other or know somebody that knows the other, have mutual friends, and the likes. For example, some side characters are side characters in multiple series and make friends with other main characters despite still being best friends with the characters from the first book they were introduced in.

It's one giant messy family only if there was a family reunion probably only half of them would end up walking away.

So yeah, that's what it looks like. It looks messy, and complicated, and fun.