Raise Your Spear for the Silver Spear ~ Guest Post

I read The Violet Fox a couple years ago and loved it! Here is my review

The author has stopped by to share a guest post about writing the sequel.

There is currently an Indiegogo campaign to fund the second book that can be found HERE

Guest Post

Writing a Sequel: Getting Back Into The Groove

When I published the Violet Fox in 2012 I didn’t think that it would be nearly three years until I published its sequel.

But life got in the way, other books got published (the first two books of my YA science fiction series, the Sparkstone Saga), and I’ve moved around quite a bit since 2012.

I also didn’t think it would be so difficult to re-enter the detailed, sophisticated world I had created.

I was wrong.

When I first had the idea for The Violet Fox, way back when I was eight years old, it was just going to be a stand-alone book. Later, many years later, when I actually wrote the first draft using some of my childhood notes, I realized I had a bigger world in my hands than I knew what to do with. A world that I could explore in three books, if not four.

So when I started playing around with Book 2, The Silver Spear, I had some idea about where the plot would go. The ending came fairly easily. They usually do for me. I had a beginning, and a catalyst to get the action rolling. The middle I usually write last.

But the more I wrote, the less certain I became. What if this book didn’t live up to my readers’ expectations? The story is a lot different than The Violet Fox. The Violet Fox is loosely structured around the Cinderella fairy tale. The Silver Spear is about my protagonists going on an epic journey to find a powerful artefact.

The other troubling aspect of getting back into the groove of the world is you have to consider what your themes are. The Violet Fox Series is about prejudice, and a love between two very different people. Keeping that love story fresh and interesting is not only a challenge, but it becomes the crux of the second book. I can’t have them fall out of love, but I had to make something big come between them to keep the tension high.

I left the story alone for a long time while I mulled all this over. It wasn’t until a few days ago that I discovered exactly what was going to drive them apart. Not just externally, but internally. My protagonist, Kiera, is very strong willed, and once she is convinced of something, she will not let go of her beliefs easily. Keegan, the prince of the land, has many responsibilities weighing on his head and wants Kiera to be practical. He doesn’t want her to go on an epic adventure. He wants her to stay in the castle and fix the problems from there. But when they’re left with no choice but to on this epic journey, and he’s forced to go with her...this is what will keep their relationship interesting.

Everything is falling into place, and I’m working at a good pace to get a workable draft done. The book is due out in Fall 2015.

Now I’m finally ready to get The Silver Spear off the ground. I’ve kicked off a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to raise funds for the editorial costs of publishing The Silver Spear. Check it out here: http://igg.me/at/silverspear

If you can’t contribute, spread the word, and the cover! 

Run.
That’s what instinct told me.
But in order to save the secrets of my people
and to protect my brother
I have to become the enemy.

There are two kinds of people in the land of Marlenia.

The Marlenians, who live on the surface,

and the Freetors, who are forced to live underground.

The war between them ended two hundred years ago, but the Freetors still fight for the right to live under the sun. Fifteen-year-old Kiera Driscoll embodies the Freetors’ hopes as the Violet Fox. In a violet cape and mask, she sneaks around Marlenia City stealing food and freeing her people from slavery.

Then the Elders task her with a secret mission: retrieve a stolen tome that contains the secrets of Freetor magic, something the Marlenians both fear and covet. Kiera must disguise herself as a noblewoman and infiltrate the Marlenian castle before the Freetor-hating Advisor finds out her real identity, before her brother is imprisoned because of the secrets he hides, and before she falls any more in love with the prince she’s supposed to hate.

More is happening in the castle than she realizes, and Kiera is faced with a difficult choice. Will she be loyal to her people and their fight for freedom, or will she be loyal to her heart?

Rule.
That’s what the Marlenians are telling me.
But even with this crown on my head,
and my love at my side,
The war is only beginning.