I have like half a plan and here it is...

(Images Via Pinterest)

-the banner was made by my sister Jes Drew to celebrate the release of Between Gods and Demigods-

 

For the doubters among you who have been wondering, yes, I do indeed have a plan.

A real actual publishing plan when it comes to my books. It's a very good plan. It's a very solid plan. I am very fond of this plan.

Even if it is only half a plan.

What can I say? A lot can happen in one year, let alone the many years it would take to follow through with my current plan. I like to leave some wiggle room for new WIPs.

So yes, there is always that unknown factor in the equation, but this is what I have so far. Mind you, I do actually have plans for some as of yet unannounced books, but I'm still not ready to announce those bad babies yet so they won't be included in this plan.

This plan is for the announced series and stories that I am already in the middle of. Here we go.

A Winter Dark and Deadly— The long awaited sequel of Winter Cursed, I have been working tirelessly on editing it, it's more than halfway done. Depending on the timing it may be my next release. I am really hoping to get it done and published this summer, but I suppose only time will tell if I manage that goal. I think I will, but this story certainly likes throwing up plot holes. Anyway, I definitely plan to have it released in 2021.

The Of Dreams and Nightmares Trilogy— book two I plan to release this October, book three October of 2022, and then this trilogy will be wrapped up.

League of Thieves— I am still planning on editing up LoT soon, however, the current publishing plans I have for it is to try querying it to trad publishers... so this duology is still a long way from publication.

Rage Like the Gods— My latest release was the prequel for this series, so when is this series coming out? Short answer, book one comes out in 2022, I'm hoping later spring or early summer. I will have a more specific date, hopefully soon. Long answer? Well, honestly I probably need a whole other post to talk about the publishing plans for the RLtG series and the books surrounding it. Until I end up writing that, just know that this series is what I plan on spending the majority of my time and focus on for the next five or so years, however long it takes to get through this saga.

But I know what you're all asking... What about Amar? Two of my current series take place in Amar. My Time in Amar which still has two more books to be released (A Season of Subterfuge has already been written, but has quite a few edits to go) and Return to Amar which is only a duology and has only one more book to go: A Matter of Curiosity. MoC would be done already if not for the pesky technicality that it is set after the events of SoS. Amar's schedule is largely dependent on if I decide to have LoT of SoS be the next book I edit. If it is SoS I can have it started probably as early as this fall and who knows maybe it would be done by next year. However, if it is LoT, I probably would not pick up any Amar books until I wrap up the Of Dreams of Nightmares trilogy in Fall of 2022, which means they probably wouldn't come out till 2023. I do however, intend to release SoS and MoC around the same time so once I do return to Amar, you will have two books to tide you over until I finally write the grand finale of My Time in Amar.

So there you have it, my half of a plan. There are still a lot of dates I don't know, but hopefully it gives you a general timeframe for how long you will be waiting for these books.

Now I just have one last question left. Which one do you want me to start working on next...

SoS or LoT?

Keep Calm and Buy Between Gods and Demigods

 

Today's the very big day. The very first Rage Like the Gods story is finally out there in the world. And I couldn't be more excited.

This day does come shadowed with some sadness. I dedicated this novella to my dogs. Unfortunately one of my doggies, Riley died very suddenly only days before the release. Because of this, the story almost didn't end up getting published in time, but I managed to pull through.

I love this story just so much, it is a very special part of my heart, it offers only a small glimpse into RLtG, but I'm very excited to finally be sharing this world with you. The story is far from over by the time this book ends, but I still really enjoyed seeing these two characters backstory and finally figuring out how they came to bear these scars (physical or metaphysical, that I will leave for you to find out)

Once there was a battle between gods and demigods, and the demigods lost. Now sorcery is banned and those who choose to follow the demigods are shunned, even the followers of the Lady of Dawn, the only demigod to side with her godly parents in the battle.

Azern doesn’t know much about the outside world, or anything other than the crumbling secluded temple she was raised in. Year by year goes by, and one by one the priests leave the temple never to return. As one of the few remaining members devout to Lady Dawn, Azern is faced with a calling bigger and far more deadly than she ever could have imagined.

The demigods are awakening, and once again the Lady of Dawn calls upon her followers to aid her parents in their fight. Azern is given the task of finding and protecting the mortal heroes that the gods have chosen to save humanity. To aid her in this task she is gifted a taste of Lady Dawn’s foresight, but the first vision she ever sees of the future is about a Magicker, an injury, and a werewolf attack. Azern is convinced that she was given this vision so that she could save this Magicker’s life. Even if she must join a mad lord in his suicidal battle against werewolves to do it. What she didn’t count on was the Magicker being a stubborn fool who would likely rather die than break a rule. To gain his trust, Azern must keep her sorcery a secret. More than just his life may depend on it. If her sorcery is discovered the werewolves will be the least of her problems.

But then, for mortals caught in the ancient struggle between gods and demigods, death is just an occupational hazard.

The cover art was by the amazingly talented Hannah Rogers @InkscapeStudios

I would offer links to purchase but as I am writing this, the books still aren't up on Amazon so I shall leave it to you to go and locate it on your own.

How I Differentiate Fantasy Subgenres When It Comes to My Works

 It's been how long since I have posted about something that wasn't a writing update or a direct announcement involving my books? Don't answer that, I don't actually want to know.

With that said, I decided to try something different this week and instead of posting a writing update I shall share my classification system for when it comes to figuring out what genre my books are. I've written about fantasy subgenres before, years ago. But I thought it would be fun if I wrote about my specific process for figuring out my books' genres. Do publishing companies do that for you? I have no idea, but sometimes I wonder how exactly to classify my books especially since I write so much fantasy and yet they are so different in the mood and tone.

If you check out my Current Projects page on my blog you may have wondered what I saw as the difference between Dark Fantasy and High Fantasy and Epic Fantasy and all that. If so then this post is definitely for you. Or maybe you didn't wonder. But I thought I would share anyway. You're welcome.

Now this isn't a conclusive list of fantasy subgenres, there are some like Historical Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and others that won't be listed because I am only using the ones that I have written a novel in or am in the process of writing.

Portal Fantasy: the majority of my published novels are portal fantasies. Don't ask me why. I like the genre well enough but it's certainly not my favorite (that would be High Fantasy). It may be that it's easier to write than some of the other subgenres. It has a somewhat looser tone and language. Portal fantasy is basically the story of two worlds, in portal fantasies generally your characters are not in their home world but are discovering a new one. Either someone from earth is in a fantasy world, or even if someone from a fantasy world ends up in Earth. These kinds of books usually takes place during modern times (although I someday hope to write a book where that isn't the case) and has ties with earth. Due to this modernish aspect, portal fantasy is somewhat similar to Urban Fantasy (which I do not have any stories in, so it won't be listed in this blog post), however Urban Fantasy is about a slightly altered world where fantastical aspects such as monsters and magic exist in earth under all of our noses, often times woven expertly into life. Portal fantasies are a bit more of a jarring displacement of being ripped from one entire world and thrust into an entirely new one.

Books I have written in this genre:

The My Time in Amar series is about Chelsea Welling, a normal teenager from earth who ends up trapped in the fantastical world of Amar with her brother and two friends. The goal of this series is for them to return to earth. Along the way they meet new friends, have adventures with pirates, tangle with werewolves, and get involved in the politics of the world. So far I have written three books in this series (the third is as of yet still not published), and even though this story world is expansive and we see multiple facets of it over the series, because we view Amar through Chelsea, an outsider to this world, I don't count it as High or Epic fantasy. It has elements of both but as I will get into in their sections, I count these subgenres by their immersion into the world, one that Chelsea does not provide. She was not born in Amar, and her goal is to return to earth so even if there is not a whole lot of world hopping going on throughout the course of this series (Chelsea and her friends are bound to Amar until they accomplish a quest), it's a portal fantasy.

A companion duology to My Time in Amar, A Certain Sort of Madness is about Alicia Hareton, yet another girl from earth who spends time in Amar. However, unlike Chelsea, Alicia chooses to go into Amar and controls her travels. She is still a stranger, in a strange world, even if she likes it more than Chelsea does. This book does introduce yet another world that can be reached and traveled to because portal fantasy is oftentimes not bound to a single pair of worlds or realms.

Of Gold and Iron is the final portal fantasy I have written (to date). It is the story of Jaye MacCullagh and her brother finding themselves trapped in the faerie Otherworlds, and what they are willing to do to try and escape. Once again, Jaye is from earth, and views this world with extremely foreign and somewhat biased eyes, however the world is entirely different than Amar, and the fae are very different than the faeries named in Week of Werewolve's title. I would even dare to call it a Faerie Fantasy, but I haven't made up my mind on if that should be an official subgenre or not. It certainly has very strong vibes, but I'm not entirely sure if that in itself is enough to make it a subgenre. I could even venture and say that it is Mythology, because it is strongly based off of Irish folklore, but it is not a retelling of a myth which is probably more of what a Mythology subgenre is for. And since I haven't written one of those (yet mwahaha), I'm unsure if Of Gold and Iron deserves to be in their currently vacant ranks.

Retellings/Reimaginings: I mean, this is pretty self explanatory. Any story that I have retold (or the much looser term I use for simply taking inspiration and stealing elements from a certain story but not remaining true to everything that happened: reimagined) in a fantasy world falls under this category. Most of my retellings and reimaginings fall under another subgenre as well since this does very little to describe the world and world view of the book or the way it is written which is how I usually divide my stories by their genres.

A Certain Sort of Madness (which was listed above) is a reimagining of the tale of Alice in Wonderland

Winter Cursed (which I will list below) is a retelling of Snow White. The other two stories in its series however A Winter Grim and Lonely and A Winter Dark and Deadly are only reimaginings, one of the story of the wicked queen and one of Beauty and the Beast.

Dark Fantasy: With Dark Fantasy it is all about the mood. And ambiance if you will. It deals with the much grimer elements and more morally ambiguous characters. These stories tend to be a little less humorous and a little more focused on the smaller details to better flesh out the overall theme of the story.

I count the Blood of the Gods trilogy as dark fantasy due to the overall theme of vampires. And the main characters being much more morally questionable than in my other works what with some of them being assassins and ruling criminal empires.

Books I have written in Dark Fantasy:

The Winter Cursed books are counted as dark fantasy due to the way I wrote them. More poetic, the very setting is dark as my characters live in a sunless world. A Winter Grim and Lonely revolves around the villain's story and the prince of this tale is a dark lord. There isn't anything particularly darker in this story than would be in any of my other works, however events are shown without the more cheery humor and light heartedness that is oftentimes in my other books.

High Fantasy: A slightly happier tone than Dark Fantasy... or not. Some High Fantasy books can be Dark Fantasy, but it's a little harder to accomplish. High Fantasy offers a much broader view of a fantasy world. Usually there is a lot of traveling done, and even if it isn't the main focus of the plot there will be a political and religious system. The characters of High Fantasy are from that world (even if they are foreigners to the country specifically) and they tend to understand how it works. So far my High Fantasy books have featured a very large cast from all corners and walks in life of that fantasy world although I wouldn't count that as a requirement for being a High Fantasy.

I do not count A Winter Dark and Deadly as High Fantasy because I consider its world much smaller. It is on an island, the majority of the book takes place in one place and while traveling is done, there is like a grand total of three notable settings for the scenes. It has an expansive history and mythology, but the settings are limited so I don't count it as High Fantasy.

Books I have written in High Fantasy:

League of Thieves which does not have a cover yet, is a High Fantasy. It takes place in a middle eastern themed world, however we have characters from all across the map, even a main character from the mysterious northern tribes. There's a lot of unrest and an empire working on taking over the entire world. I will note that the characters are morally ambiguous, they're thieves for crying out loud. But the theme and overall mood of both the characters and the story of LoT is way too lighthearted to ever pass as Dark Fantasy.

Between Gods and Demigods which is the prequel to Rage Like the Gods will be my first High Fantasy book that I publish. The world in RLtG is quite large and expansive, we have multiple clans, humans and elves alike, locked in a struggle each believing they are better than the other. Necromancers and an undead army. Outlawed magic systems. And gods desperate to keep it all from going to Skyhold (the name of their afterlife because yeah I probably don't count it as High Fantasy unless we have an underworld mentioned at least once). And characters from all across the world with all sorts of different political leanings and moral ideals, drawn in by the common goal of not wanting the world to end.

Epic Fantasy: I listed this last, because I wanted to state what High Fantasy was first. Before I count a book as an Epic Fantasy, it must fit all of the requirements of being a High Fantasy, and then it has to be very long. And by long I mean, longer than a trilogy long. My definition of Epic Fantasy is a saga told through the course of multiple novels. By this definition, League of Thieves is not Epic Fantasy since it is only a duology. I do count The Blood of the Gods trilogy and other stories in Ruskhazar that might not be part of the RLtG series as Epic Fantasy since they are part of a larger story and all tie in somehow. Rage Like the Gods by these standards is my only Epic Fantasy series,  but I can assure you that will not remain the case.

So yeah, as you can see it's not a conclusive system. It adapts as I write more and try to figure out how they fit into the whole scheme of things when it comes to fantasy subgenres. But these are the main ones I have written or am writing in right now. I'm sure given a few years I will have added plenty more books to each categories and maybe even added more categories. Hopefully you enjoyed reading about this as much as I loved sharing into my crazy organizational system and weren't too confused.

Now you know what I'm actually thinking when I say Dark Fantasy or Epic Fantasy. Do you think that Faerie Fantasy should be a subgenre or do I just like faeries too much? Comment Below!

Between Gods and Demigods Cover Reveal

So here we are, the moment we have all been waiting for...

Between Gods and Demigods  cover reveal! I'll keep the introduction short because honestly the cover speaks for itself (and hopefully what it is saying is read me)

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Once there was a battle between gods and demigods, and the demigods lost. Now sorcery is banned and those who choose to follow the demigods are shunned, even the followers of the Lady of Dawn, the only demigod to side with her godly parents in the battle.

Azern doesn’t know much about the outside world, or anything other than the crumbling secluded temple she was raised in. Year by year goes by, and one by one the priests leave the temple never to return. As one of the few remaining members devout to Lady Dawn, Azern is faced with a calling bigger and far more deadly than she ever could have imagined.

The demigods are awakening, and once again the Lady of Dawn calls upon her followers to aid her parents in their fight. Azern is given the task of finding and protecting the mortal heroes that the gods have chosen to save humanity. To aid her in this task she is gifted a taste of Lady Dawn’s foresight, but the first vision she ever sees of the future is about a Magicker, an injury, and a werewolf attack. Azern is convinced that she was given this vision so that she could save this Magicker’s life. Even if she must join a mad lord in his suicidal battle against werewolves to do it. What she didn’t count on was the Magicker being a stubborn fool who would likely rather die than break a rule. To gain his trust, Azern must keep her sorcery a secret. More than just his life may depend on it. If her sorcery is discovered the werewolves will be the least of her problems.

But then, for mortals caught in the ancient struggle between gods and demigods, death is just an occupational hazard.

Isn't it just beautiful? Cover art by Hannah Rogers @Inkscape Studios

You can add it to your Goodreads shelves here

Can't wait to get your hands on this story? The ARC reader sign up sheet is still open!

Post NaNo//What I actually ended up doing

(art of Azern and Magnar by Maddy Moore)

In case you didn't notice, I have a new tab on my blog dedicated to the art that other people have created of my books and characters, definitely be sure to check that out because it's full of gorgeous pieces. 

But now as I'm sure you are aware of, even if it took me a little while to realize... it is now May. Camp NaNo is finally over and I have crawled out of my writing cave to assess the damage.

What I wanted to write: 65,000

What I ended up writing: 26,000

Which is a far cry from my goal, but hey 26k in a month is nothing to sneeze at. I'm not complaining about that number. Maybe it wasn't what I wanted to get. Or even anywhere close to it. But I'm proud of it regardless, especially considering that this month was chock full of unexpected developments

The highlights of NaNo include:

I am now 50,000 words into Eirik's POV (I had thought that I would finish it this month, but apparently there is still a good chunk left to go). That puts me at 126,000 words in Rage Like the Gods as a whole.

I hit 20k on Of Stars and Shadows

Made it to 90k in A Winter Dark and Deadly's rewrites

And basically wrote 1k in An Immortal's Guide to Betraying the Gods

I also ended up finishing the edits on Between Gods and Demigods which hadn't been originally part of the plan, but was still necessary. Only one last read through to go!

What's ahead?

AWDaD basically. My goal is to finish it before June.

I'm hoping to publish Between Gods and Demigods on May 22nd

With that said if you are looking to get a first look at the cover or be one of the first to read the book I have opened up sign up forms to participate in the cover reveal and/or to be an advanced reader of this novella.

Cover reveal sign up

ARC reader sign up

(images via Pinterest, I take no credit for them)

I'm also hoping to finish up Of Stars and Shadows in the next couple of months.

And I have a new book to start working on relatively soon, hopefully this month as well, so you have that announcement to look forward to as well.

How was your April? What are your plans for May? Comment below!

A Writerly Update

(image via Pinterest I take no credit for it)

We're about halfway through April and I have dragged myself out of my writing den to tell you how things have been going so far.

I have written 18,473 words which is nowhere close to where I should be in order to write 65,000 words this month which is my goal.

But it's fine.

I mean I'm screaming and everything is on fire.

But it's fiiiinnneee.

So anyway without further ado here are how my four WIPs have been progressing...

A Winter Dark and Deadly made it to 90,000 words. And then it decided to give me the silent treatment for two weeks.

Which I don't appreciate, especially considering I want to publish it this summer.

(image via Pinterest I take no credit for it)

An Immortal's Guide to Betraying the Gods is at 3,810 words, plodding along very slowly. But I did figure out when I am planning to publish it (and book one and book 3 of this trilogy) and I have plenty of time to take this slow

Rage Like the Gods is now at 121,000. No I still haven't finished Eirik's POV, yes it is pushing almost 50k words, and no I don't want to talk about it. Because then I will have to reconfigure how long I think RLtG will be and honestly the idea of it being bigger than I had originally thought scares me.

And finally, Of Stars and Shadows is now at 20,000 words. Which may not look like much compared to the word counts of AWDaD and RLtG, but historically 20k is where I counted myself fully invested in a story. I had been known to start books and get from 1-10k into them before ditching them because they weren't working at that time or if I had what I considered a better idea. 20k is where I finally hit my stride on a story and it was in the game for good. By that point I'm usually too invested in a story to put it down.

OSaS of course wasn't in any danger of getting ditched on the wayside since it is a sequel, and one I wish to publish later this year. But, still to celebrate it reaching such a monumental goal, I have decided to finally reveal it's blurb (note: you may now want to read it if you have not read book one Of Gold and Iron since it does contain spoilers)

(Images Via Pinterest, I take no credit for them)

My eyes flick up to Ravven who is resting with his eyes closed, pale and gaunt just a shadow of the former self he was only days ago. “So, what is your plan? I’m assuming that you have a plan.”

“More like a gamble.”

“And I’m part of that gamble? Are you sure that is wise? You know, considering our somewhat twisted history?”

 

Jaye MacCullagh may be the Fair Assassin now, but her troubles are far from over. Even though she killed the faerie enslaving her brother, she and Thomas are still just as trapped in the Otherworld as before. Only this time by the deceitfully glamorous Sidhe faeries of the Spring Court. Returning home seems like an impossible dream, especially when Jaye discovers that Ravven Crowe, the king of the Spring Court and her soulmate, is still alive… if just barely. Ravven needs Jaye’s help to discover how he survived, and how to stop himself from dying again. He is fading away and somehow Jaye is weakening alongside him. The only hope for either of them is for Ravven to reclaim his immortality by becoming a faerie again.

 

However, there is only one way for mortals to turn into faeries. They must drink from the well of Stars and Shadow on the night of the Feast of Starlight. Each court has a way to the well, but they guard it fiercely to keep just any human from becoming one of them. With every other way to the well barred, Jaye and Ravven are left with only one option. They must enter a deadly labyrinth created by the Spring Court. If they can survive and if they can make it through to the other side, the well is theirs. But in the faerie world, nothing is that simple. Especially where the Spring Court is concerned. Forced to trust the man who ruined her or risk losing him forever, Jaye struggles with her convoluted feelings toward both Ravven and the faerie world. However, when her family arrives looking for her, Jaye feels further strained. Everything Jaye has ever cared about is at the mercy of the Otherworlds, and she can’t shake the feeling that no matter how hard she fights to win she is going to lose this time.

And I want to officially thank OSaS for being so much easier to write than my other sequels were *pointedly glares at AWDAD and ToT*. So yeah...

This has been a wild month, I'm not going to lie. I thought I would have written more by now, but I keep getting new ideas when all I'm trying to do is focus on the ones I'm currently working on. I've now finally decided on which project I shall be working on this summer (as well as already started researching it), and I've made a few other plans.

All will be revealed in due time, of course. But for now, just know that I'm so excited for these stories that I wish I could start them now, if only AWDAD and OSaS were done... *le sigh*

Speaking of reveals, Between Gods and Demigods has a cover reveal coming up later this month and trust me when I say you don't want to miss it.

Well, I'm off to write some more. Or procrastinate. Or daydream about a project that I can't start until I finish one of my current ones. Decisions... decisions...

(image via Pinterest I take no credit for it)

There has been the slightest, tiniest, minutest tweak to the last change of plans

(images via Pinterest)

Okay so maybe that last post was a little premature. I waited to publish it for like a week in case I changed my mind on working on To Dance With Monsters, turns out what I needed to wait was a week and three days.

It isn't exactly that I've decided to not write it. Because of course I'm going to write it someday. It isn't even that I'm saying I'm not going to write it this year. That I haven't decided yet.

I left room in my writing schedule to start one unplanned project in 2021. All of my other projects have been mapped out this year, but I have room for one more. And I'm just not sure if TDWM is going to be that one project that comes in and sweeps me away and I sell my soul to like RLtG was for me last year (honestly it still is very much my passion project I love Ruskhazar with my whole heart but now the difference is, it is actually a planned project, I'm even publishing its prequel novella in less than two months!). So yeah, I'm pulling back on TDWM because I realized I wasn't sure it was going to be that one unplanned project. I have a few other story ideas bouncing around in my brain that are warring with TDWM for WIP supremacy. Honestly I don't have a clue which will win, I suppose only time will tell.

Heck, if I'm still this undecided when the time draws near to start the dang project I might actually put it up to a poll to see what you the reader would like to see the most.

(images via Pinterest)

But for now... it's one day until NaNo. So here is my new and revised NaNo goal:

65,000 words or more

Four projects whose progress will all be counted toward this goal

It's slightly more of a word count than traditional NaNo but divided (probably knowing me, unevenly) across four projects instead of just the one

So we shall see how far we actually get in any of them and which projects I end up writing the most in (my money is on AWDAD, but sometimes I surprise myself)

The projects are as follows:

A Winter Dark and Deadly

Rage Like the Gods

An Immortal's Guide to Betraying the Gods

Of Stars and Shadows

(images via Pinterest)

Yes indeed I am finally starting Of Stars and Shadows again, and not waiting till AWDAD is finished before I do it either. I figured while I worked to try and figure out what this ever elusive unplanned WIP will be, I could in the very least get some words pounded out on OGaI's sequel seeing as it needs to get written before this October.

Anyway, hopefully this is the last change of NaNo plans, seeing as NaNo is tomorrow. But I think it will be. These four projects are stories that I both want and need to write and have well established plots already. I'm particularly excited to get back into writing Immortal's Guide and OSaS.

(images via Pinterest)

As I said in the last post I shall try to keep you up to date on these now four projects through next month. I'm excited to see how far I will get in these stories.

What about you? Are you doing NaNo, if so I would love to hear about your projects. Which of these four projects are you anticipating the most? Comment Below!