Dragonfae Nonsense
Monday Mind Dump
What’s on my mind right now is Selene Press. :) They’re looking at my Dragonfae Cycle! But they asked me to pick one on the list of 7 that I sent them. The problem with that is that if I could pick one, I would have already done so! I just wanted to give them some to choose from so I could put my all into fully polishing whichever one is chosen…because I can do any of them at the drop of a hat. Some may require complete rewrites, but it won’t take long because I really want to get them started!
I sent the first chapters of three after a quick going over. Now, they’re all perfectly readable, but I have this deep desire to go over them with a fine-tooth comb. The reason I haven’t, is because of how I was still learning and developing my style. I realized years ago that it was better to write a new draft than to rewrite while I was learning. THAT’S why I have so many rough drafts. It’s not due to indecision. No, it’s practice to be a better writer from draft 1.
I picked the three based on how they would work as a debut without ruining some details in other series. Wrong Turn at the Spring is an excellent debut to the universe, because only the lore and basic world building are in use without certain characters showing up who are MCs in multiple other series and VERY imporant. Wrong Turn is outright YA/Fantasy with a touch of romance in the future. It is a lot like Blood Diamonds in content…a bit horrific and dark, with a lot of light. It’s one of only two of my works that do NOT end with the obvious couple TOGETHER. :D I. Love. It. And I can easily write a few more novels to follow it with a fresh mind.
Shadow Queen is one that I DID rewrite multiple times, and I just need to revise it. The same as I would for Wrong Turn. Needs updating in my current style with minimum changes. Actually, nothing needs to change. THIS one is much closer to Romantasy. Yeah, there’s an adventure, but it starts immediately with all the lovely denial of feelings/feelings/nope/nope/nope. :D This is one of my favorites because Kinkaed is a very kind, giving, sacrificial male lead. Reanna…is a highly intelligent rebel raider who is the bogeyman to his people, who happen to have chased all of her kind out of their homes and into a dangerous dark forest that is killing them. Most of them are already dead. Oh, btw, this is linked to Wrong Turn at the Spring via the mothers being related. ;) I’ve got to go through and modify some dialogue to use more Spanish to make that CLEAR.
Kinkaed will help her survive, even at the cost of his own heart, so she will LIVE. Lots of awesome deep feelings, but not ooey-gooey.
Last is When it Raines, because this was one that was extremely popular with my beta readers. Extremely. It’s a higher grade of Romantasy with a tiny bit of spice. Not too much. However, the piece I sent is a novella I’d written years after the initial novel, which is massive and I want to split into two for a duology.
Kaiden is a king without a queen, ruling a kingdom in which he is the only one of his kind. Yes, this setup is common for a REASON among these particular Fae and in this family. There’s a reason…a shared historical event that scattered my Fae. It’s also why Kinkaed and Kaiden have similar names. ;) They have the same grandfather.
In any case, when Kaiden was young, he attended a masquerade at his uncle’s bidding, not realizing it was a deliberate attempt to set him up with a princess whose mother was seeking a suitable husband for her. His uncle looks like ‘them’, very human with brightly colored wings. Kaiden. Does. Not. So he disguises himself.
Anne is one of the most obnoxious princesses there are. She’s headstrong, does what she wants, and isn’t thrilled that her mother and grandfather keep trying to set her up with men. She’s only sixteen…and among Fae, that’s VERY young when their age of maturity is 25. Kaiden turns out to be just the mystery she needs. A tall Fae man who is hiding behind cloaks and masks. Stunning eyes…and he told her they will not work out right up front, because she’s too young and he doesn’t want her to regret such a decision in the future. Still, she decides she’s going to see who and what he really is.
Good grief. I can’t wait to see which one I get to work on!
- TC Ross