The Sorceress and the Squid is BEING EDITED

  Hey guys! How is your Monday? I know I'm a day behind for my post - I apologize. I was working at my local Christian camp's All Girl's Spy Camp weekend - which was a blast. I was in charge of a cabin with three seven-year-olds and that was...interesting. Especially when I had to operate yesterday on 3 hours of sleep from the previous night. Le sigh.

  But anyways, today I am going to talk about my novel that is currently hanging out at the editor's, getting all cleaned up. Some of you may have heard that exciting announcement through Twitter, Facebook or an earlier blog post. I'm really excited to see how it comes back and to finish all the polishing in order to pursue it to publishing.

  If you know nothing about my novella-turned-novel "The Sorceress and the Squid" then read on, my friends and hopefully you will be enticed to pick up a copy when there are copies available!

THE SORCERESS AND THE SQUID

In the magical land of Perth, divisions between the Old Kingdom and the New have waged for centuries. The humans have long harbored a mistrust of the spell-casting Fae and vice versa. In the midst of this conflict, Estrella the Sorceress lays waste to the Training Academy for Human Warriors, making an enemy in the soldier, Jalen. During their standoff, Jalen is turned into a squid and Estrella, unable to restore him to his original form, takes sympathy on him and travels west across the Sea to bring him to the Wizard in hope he can be saved. But is there more to the unrest in Perth than meets the eye?

  THE BACKGROUND...

  This is my second full-length novel that I've fully completed. I really enjoyed writing this one because it was purely fun and just kept growing and growing as I went. The world got a little bigger and the conspiracy a little thicker and the magical elements a little more complex. It surprised and entertained me while writing - which is an awesome thing to experience. It also taught me a lot about myself because each and every character in the story (aside from the Wizard, Morana, the Commander and the King) are based on myself and real people around me in my life. I know, I know, that's like one of the major rules in writing that you SHOULDN'T BREAK: inserting yourself or people you know into characters. Yeah, it's probably not the best plan in every situation, I grant that. Things can get awkward and people could be offended. But I think there are times when this can be pulled off. I think it worked for my story especially.

  The inspiration came from a conversation I had with my boyfriend (before he was my boyfriend) about him being a secret ninja squid - thus inspiring the squid part of the story. The sorceress piece came after we started dating. He complimented me by referring to me as "casting a spell on him" and then my brain did a couple turns and the rest is history. I didn't immediately start writing as that all happened in late 2014. I started the story in fall of 2015 and finished in spring of 2016. I've been editing since and now am on the road to publishing - a thrilling concept.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THIS STORY?

  A lot of different things. There are obviously a lot of, er, more ridiculous elements (such as soldiers being turned into squids by angry sorceresses). But for all the light-hearted tones, there are just as many dark and mature ones to balance it out. There are themes of loyalty and betrayal, of doing the right thing at one's own personal sacrifice, of not getting mixed up with the wrong people and many more. There are cabins in the mountains and pirate ships sailed by elementals and haunted woods with vampires and nymphs, wizards and sorceresses, princesses and goblins, warriors and squids. It's a big, crazy mess of fun and frolicking and tons of traditional fairy tale elements all jumbled together. As for darker elements, there are victims of abuse, orphans, elements of fairy-tale racism, revenge, self-sacrifice, disability, and dark magic.

  As far as what range of readers this would appeal to? I think that almost any age could enjoy this story - so long as they enjoy fairy-tales and fantasy. There are elements for everyone.

  Want to know more? Feel free to ask! Please do!

WHERE CAN YOU READ MORE ABOUT TSATS?

  Glad you asked. ;) I have made a few blog posts about this novel on here...

  Here I talked about the Girl-Is-Foil-to-the-Guy's-Character trope and how I unconsciously went against that while writing TSatS.

  Here is the day I finished the story and introduced it.

  Here is the original first chapter.

  Here is the original second chapter.

  And here is my Pinterest board for the story.


  Well everyone, there's a bit of another look into this story. I know I've probably overshared about it, I'm just so in love with it and I think that it could be a really neat read for others. I'm so enthusiastic about sharing it with people and I can't wait to get it out into the world and into the hands of readers. If you would like to be one of those readers, please, let me know below! I would love to chat further with you about the story and am so excited to share it with you soon! Be on the look out for future posts regarding the publishing process! Happy Monday, everyone!