What interests you about how a fantasy novel comes together? If you let me know, I can address your curiosity here.
Update: I currently have an artist working on my map of Lonecca. I had an awesome editorial meeting last week that provided no end of encouragement and direction. To us writers, editors are angels who email.
All that’s left is to make a few tweaks, format the manuscript, find a cover designer, and then self-publish. Subscribers to my newsletter will be the first to hear about the launch date. It’s getting closer!!!
Today I want to provide a peek at the villains in my series. If you’re a returning visitor, you’ll know that Lonecca suffers from oppression on two levels. Besides their self-serving king, there’s also the invisible Hogrem predators that nobody’s aware of. At first.
My challenge was how to reveal the Hogrem without too many spoilers, while sustaining enough mystery to keep you reading. Originally, I’d planned to obscure the Hogrem until at least Book Two, while showing the results of their interference. Who doesn’t love a good secret with its eventual reveal? But as my editor pointed out, their manipulation resulted in confusing behavior from the cast. Why would perfectly reasonable people act that way? Even the bad guys lacked sufficient motivation for their orchestrated compulsions.
Next, I added brief scenes from one Hogrem’s point of view. I was still aiming for a subtle approach. Instead, it failed to provide enough details for their intrusion to make sense. I was advised to either delete the Hogrem’s scenes entirely, or else bring them out of the shadows. Best advice ever!
I think you’ll enjoy the final result. I even added a prologue that introduces these invisible beings. Now there’s no confusion about the bigger picture. The puppet masters are no longer hidden from my readers. Only from my poor, beleaguered characters.
And now you can enjoy the process of watching these voracious entities gradually be revealed throughout the series. I hope this process raises the same question for you that perplexes the final hero…
“How are you going to kill them? They have no physical bodies.”
Thanks for listening. Don’t forget to let me know what else you’d like to hear about.
Ciao for now,
Kai