Know the Novel Part 3: It's Late, but I Finished Pentegreens 1!
Hey guys! I am VERY late on this linkup, but here I am anyway to say that I finished my rewrites of my novel, The King's Daughter, and I'm ready to scream hysterically about it. I am IN LOVE WITH THESE IDIOTS. tHAT IS ALL.
Some stats:
- 331 pages (down from 410)
- 90,401 words (down from 120k in the earliest draft)
- Same number of chapters somehow?
- D R A M A
- Infinite levels of love triangle shenanigans
- The characters need Help
1. How did writing this novel go all around?
It was...fun. Scary, but fun. Dismantling something this close to my heart was really hard, and I struggled to know how to make it amazing. But eventually I realized I loved it, and how much more fun and fulfilling this story is. I loved writing this so much, and rewriting it as a grownup...so so fun.
2. Did it turn out as you expected or completely different? How do you feel about the outcome?
It's SO different and in the best possible way. I am obsessed with my characters. I'm obsessed with the story. I love this so so much.
3. What aspect of the story did you love writing about the most? (Characters, plot, setting, prose, etc.)
The characters, always. There is no competition. I adore these characters with my entire heart. Esma is still my kind, strong girl. Rishatta is a tortured but sassy but special little guy. The side characters are the kings and queens of my heart and I can't wait to see them take over the story in the later books.
4. What was your least favorite part?
Figuring out how to foreshadow later things without fully giving the plot away. It was SO HARD this time around. I know how things end this time, which I didn't when I initially wrote this book. In 2017, when I wrote the very first draft of TKD, I was still figuring out who the Big Bad was and what he wanted. This time around, I know, and I know who the twist characters are and the side characters who do insane things and just in general the whole story. It makes it hard to guess how much people will see and how much they'll be surprised by. I'm okay if people put pieces together, but I don't want things to be /too/ obvious, ya know? The writer's massive struggle. Anyway.
5. What do you feel needs the most work?
Rishatta (the MMC) and his dad's relationship. His dad used to be a very stereotypical caricature villain and is now...not either of those things, and I don't really think I got the dynamic right this time around. Le sigh. I suppose we shall See.
6. How do you feel about your characters now? Who’s your favorite? Least favorite? Anyone surprise you? Give us all the details!
My favorite currently? Always and forever Rishatta. He's my boi. He's the love of my life in a fantasy context. I adore him. But there are a few of others who have appeared and have shocked me--mostly villains. Rishatta's evil father, Burashna, and the sort of vaguely manic female assassin Elensha, specifically. The two of them? Oh my gosh. Good heavens. They are so much more interesting than they've ever been before. Elensha has become far more violent and dangerous, but also her motivations have gotten so much more intense and I think she may just be my absolute favorite character at this point. And Burashna...as stated above, he needs some help, but we're going to deal with it.
7. What’s your next plan of action with this novel?
Let it simmer, do some mild fixes, and then send it into the world for the beta/critique readers!
8. If you could have your greatest dream realized for this novel, what would it be?
I would love for this book to be the next Harry Potter sized phenomena, honestly. Crazy dream? Yes. Yes, it is. But I am nothing at all if not DELULU.
9. Share some of your favorite snippets!
He didn’t get angry. Not easily. Fury didn’t burn in his veins. But right now, he was as angry as he could be for someone made of ice. The cold surged against his hands, settling comfortably against his fingertips, where he could call it up at a moment’s notice. Inside him, it screamed, bashing its icy fists against the windowpane of his mind. One especially hard hit and the glass would shatter.
Whisper, he thought to his power, as he had so often. Hush. Breathe.
The icy hands shrank back, but they still knocked. He took a deep breath and made himself ignore them. More important things occupied him.
Elensha was no longer where he’d left her. He turned left at the place he’d last seen her and marched toward the end of the row. She had no tent of her own, no possessions, nothing except herself and that bottle of alcohol she carried with her everywhere she went.
But there she was, at the end of the row where she liked to sit, unconscious on the grass. Three glass bottles, empty, surrounded her.
10. Did you glean any new writing and/or life lessons from writing this novel?
Nothing huge, except that I can let my stories take on fresh new life and become something beautiful. I was holding on so tight to this book, afraid to let it change at all, and now...it's become something more than it ever could've been under my fifteen year old self. She's taken great care of this story, but now it's time to let it go even further.
So that's my story! So excited to be sharing more about it, and I hope I'll have more to share as we continue :D
