Coming Soon: Curse of Royalty, Volume One

Curse of Royalty volume one - tentative cover mockup - jfleming 2017

Many who know me well are aware that I enjoy writing stories. God's gifted me with the ability to put those stories down, the time to develop that ability, and it's something I've enjoyed doing since I was a little girl.

A few weeks ago, I spent my stay-cation finishing odds and ends after the flood at my house and putting the spit shine on volume one of a book I've been writing off and on for just over twenty years. Yeah - I know what you must be thinking - twenty years? What a loon. But really, I think the totality of what I've written could have been done in less than a year if I'd have had time to focus on it (and enough brain to devote to it). In 2010 I had written myself into a corner - took the story into a direction that I wasn't comfortable with. It was difficult, but after some research and some soul searching (and feed back from readers), I cut the unpalatable story line and started the book moving in a different direction. I've been much happier with this course of the plot line and know that the story is better overall for the changes I've made.

The premise I've been exploring is this: What if at a society's genesis, the ruling body had to do something drastic to protect the people, to keep tyranny from overshadowing the throne for long. What if over the course of that society's life, that drastic thing becomes rote, even though it was used sparingly in the beginning - what would it mean for those who sit on the throne, for those who serve the throne, for those who live under the throne's rule, for how that society relates to its neighbors and vice versa. The story is a little allegorical in parts, but not overpoweringly so (the curse is loosely representative of sin and how it overshadows our lives and how we're powerless to defeat it without divine help regardless our status or resources). I've written it with a Christian world view, although I wouldn't classify this as "Christian Fiction" - or at least that's not what I was going after when I started the journey, although I do want everything that I write to honor God and, though dark, shine hope into people's lives.

The story includes elements of things that I enjoy reading - action, allegory, strong characterization, adventure, drama, romantic tension, mystery, wilderness treks, etc. I'm not sure how to classify it - could fit in the same genre as Hunger Games in some ways, in the same genre as Jane Eyre and in some sections it could be comfortable rubbing elbows with one of Louis L'Amour's masterpieces.

I can't wait until I can launch volume one of  Curse of Royalty out into the ether. My beta readers have been graciously providing feedback that is making the story all the better. My poor eyes have been hurting because I've been furiously writing in my spare time - yeah, writing/editing takes a lot of time.

I hope to have Volume One available for readers in a month or so, for sure by the end of February/beginning of March (all will depend on when I might have time to paint up the cover), and then my goal is to have Volume Two ready by summer (July-ish?).

My goal of releasing Volume One didn't happen after receiving great feedback from my gracious beta readers - had to do some rewriting, but it's in the final phases and I'm very happy with where it is now (especially in comparison to what it once was). Woot! Perhaps I will be able to release it later this year. I'm making a plan now about how many free books I'll raffle and other such celebration-y things. Stay tuned :)

I'd love to release the second volume a few months after the first part so my readers won't have to wait too long, however, that one may need the most revisions since it includes the oldest bits of what I've written and it needs some serious refining. Also, I'm not sure if the timeline works for that one. Originally, volume two happened seven or eight years after volume one ends - I did that not because I like the huge leap in time, but because in my mind, the curse is the main villain and when it was 10 years in the future, it didn't feel like an immediate enough concern to drive the plot. I mean, sure she's concerned about it when she becomes queen, but she isn't desperate enough for that tooth/nail fighting that makes for such great reading.

Volume three is in pieces - Has a better outline now, and I'm excited to see how it all turns out. By the time volume three comes around, the main character has about two or three years to figure out how to save herself from the impending curse... Ideas abound, just don't have enough time to get them on paper and then on screen.

So much fun!

Wish I could take off a month from work so I could write, but my boss would flip.