Fantasy Romance
Half the new Knights of Valor had flirted with her after their initiation ceremony.
Now they were all face down in the mud, and her armor was unscratched.
She smiled at Sir Leopold. “Can’t believe your Dragon God blessed these kids. A freshly made vampire could wipe out the bunch.”
“Then teach them to fight.”
She sheathed her sword. “Why should I?”
“Because it’s why the Dragon God sent you.”
Yes, it is the end of September. No, Seducing the Ice Queen isn’t done.
I know, I promised September. And while the story is written and completely revised, I am still waiting on my cover artist. She is struggling with this cover, and so far, I have nothing to even show you.
And as we all judge a book by its cover, I want it to be good. Really good. One I’m excited to share with you.
I don’t have that. Yet.
I was supposed to have the cover two weeks ago, so I thought it would be ready for today. I am learning that deadlines mean less in creative endeavors than they do in corporate finance.
Once I get the cover, I will do the final formatting for the book. I then order the first copy for myself. I get to hold it in my hands, but I also do a final read through to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
If you want to join my mailing list, I will send out word there as soon as it is ready.
For Knight of Valor (currently in revision), I will order my cover at least a month in advance!
I am a panster.
For those that haven’t heard this term before, it means I write books “by the seat of my pants” rather than plotting out my novels.
My prep work involves knowing who the characters are, a little bit about them, and the high-level issues they’re facing. Combined with a huge dose of “I really want to write about them”.
There’s a lot of debate about pantsing versus plotting. Plotting is where you spend a lot more time outlining what’s going to happen and when.
I’ve tried plotting.
Many times.
And I have 4 novels with 10k-20k words in them that I’ll probably never complete. I’m not sure why plotting doesn’t work for me.
Maybe I feel like the story has already been told when I plot. Maybe I get bored writing it. Maybe I rush forward to write all the plot points and ignore the characters.
I’m not sure, but I do know it doesn’t work. For me.
Writing To Love a Prince really taught me this. I started this story three times. I have one 60k work that is not salvageable where Prince Eli was supposed to be the hero. Yeah. 60k. But it was awful.
And it wasn’t Eli.
I couldn’t make him weak. I couldn’t make him indecisive. He needed to be in control, and if he wasn’t, he was going to fight like an injured bear to get back into control.
He also didn’t care much what society said about him. He was a Prince. Let them fear him. Despise him. But they would respect him or face his wrath.
Yeah. The first story I wrote with him being injured and nursed back to health failed spectacularly. The second story where he was stymied by social pressure made him raise a brow. He almost rolled his eyes at me, but he’s too dignified for that.
Sure, the stories were plotted, but they weren’t his story. So I let him tell his. I was very hesitant at how the story progressed, especially as it involved a slave and royal succession.
I also worried Auburn’s kindness would be perceived as weakness. I tried changing her, but it just didn’t work. She had to be who she was because Eli fell in love with her for that. In a world as conniving as the court he’d grown up in, Auburn was his beacon of light.
I tried plotting once or twice more after To Love a Prince, but those failed, too.
So now I write by the seat of my pants. Yes, it means a lot more revisions. But I love writing that first draft! Seeing the characters revealed, their love grow, and see them overcome whatever I throw at them..
That is why I write.
I wouldn’t say learned, exactly, but perhaps was strongly reminded of in a less than subtle way.
This whole going with the flow thing is for people that are not me. I need to know what we’re doing and when. I want plans solidified. Train schedules plotted out. Museum hours accounted for. Not, this doesn’t apply to my writing, but it does everything else (which is why it still stymies me as to why I can’t be a plotter).
In my family, if you’re not five minutes (okay, fifteen) early, you’re late. Why yes, my ancestors are German, why do you ask? I try very hard to be on time and ready to go, which I accomplished all the time every time before we had children. Now, I feel like I have to tell everyone we need to leave thirty minutes sooner than we actually do just to have a chance at leaving on time.
And when we’re late anyway? Plans start to fall apart.
I don’t like crowds. I’ve never liked crowds. Most of my life, I’ve been content to shop first thing in the morning to avoid crowds. Then, internet shopping became a thing, and I could shop whenever I liked without having to talk to a soul.
But every single thing that involves a family vacation also seems to avoid crows. Lots of them.
Who is, really? And no, breathing techniques don’t work.
And these make me even more pleasant! What was the point of this vacation again?