Scribes & Archers

Welcome to the final installment of the Know the Novel link-up, hosted by Christine Smith! This installment usually goes up in December, but I’ll be taking a hiatus through the month of December (and Thunder is already finished) so I’m getting an early start on Part 3.

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1. How did writing this novel go all around?

The first half was difficult; I dove right in after finishing Lightning and burned out not too far into Thunder, then kept trying to push on anyway until Sarah Grimm talked sense into me at Realm Makers and gave me permission to shift gears for a while. Once I did that–setting Thunder aside to work toward finishing my worldbuilding book instead–I was able to get back into a much more consistent and easy writing habit, renewing my energy and productivity in such a way that carried over once I picked Thunder back up last month! The second half went much smoother, especially after getting those skipped POV chapters caught up first thing.

2. Did it turn out as you expected or completely different? How do you feel about the outcome?

It came out much shorter than I expected, lol. The target word count was 80k and I was expecting the first draft to come out around 60k, but a lot of the latter chapters ended up quite short and it didn’t even quite break 50k. It will need a lot of bulking up in edits, and I think a lot of this book was too easy for the characters, so there will probably be a lot of added conflict in the second draft that this draft is presently lacking.

That said, I’m happy just to have it all down on paper! At the height of my burnout–and even as I was coming to the end of my worldbuilding book–I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get past my disinterest in the story and get it finished this year like I’d planned. I’ll admit that I didn’t get back as much interest in the story as I’d had when I started Lightning, but I was able to at least invest enough in it to finish the draft, and I’m hopeful that diving into the worldbuilding between drafts will reignite a lot of lost interest.

3. What aspect of the story did you love writing about the most? (Characters, plot, setting, prose, etc.)

The tropes? XD Thunder integrates some tropes that I find quite fun in crime-adventure-type stories, and those scenes tended to be the most fun for me. I don’t feel like I can quite say the “plot” as a whole, because it doesn’t have enough conflict yet (though I do like it’s overall shape); I don’t feel like I can say the characters, because even though I like a couple of them quite a bit, it was hard for me to stay emotionally invested in them after the burnout; and the worldbuilding and prose are both too spotty to love right now (though I think there’s a lot of potential there to be drawn out in edits). Overall, I guess there are a lot of little bits and pieces that I like a lot, but I don’t feel like any of them are strong enough on the whole yet, and I’m looking forward to strengthening them in future drafts so they really live up to their potential and those bits and pieces are more representative of the whole.

4. What was your least favorite part?

Probably still Rhys’s POV. Of all of the characters, she is the one whose arc clearly needs the most work. She gets told toward the end that her part of the story is important, and I kind of chuckled to myself as I was writing it because I have actually asked myself more than once, from an authorial perspective, whether that’s actually true. But, as with all things, it can be fixed in edits!

5. What do you feel needs the most work?

Rhys’s POV, lol. And the worldbuilding, which has strong bones and lots of good bits and pieces but is lacking real cohesion and depth at present. The problem with finally writing a novel set in a world that has existed in some vague form in your head for over a decade (but that you haven’t really developed with much intention) is that you realize where alllll the holes are, lol. On the bright side, this means I’ll finally give this world the attention and intention it needs so that it’s better fleshed out for the next novel!

6. How do you feel about your characters now? Who’s your favorite? Least favorite? Anyone surprise you? Give us all the details!

I am disappointingly ambivalent toward most of them (again, I blame burnout). However, I don’t hate any of them (even Rhys, difficult as she may be), and I have, at some point or another, quite enjoyed all of the others and therefore know that I can like them all again. Especially Nyla and Ash (and Erika is fun, even if I would never get along with her in real life). The most surprising has probably been Alaric; his arc turned out… perhaps better than expected? He improves quite a bit as a character over the course of Thunder especially, and the only thing I might have to do is slow down that development so it’s a little more believable, lol. But he’s a pretty pitiful character in Lightning and becomes quite a bit stronger in Thunder in a way that was really fun to see develop–and I hope will be enjoyable for readers, as well!

7. What’s your next plan of action with this novel?

Ignore it completely until next year, then focus on developing Concordia in more depth for the first few months of 2025 so that I have a firmer foundation from which to work once I go back to edits (hopefully in the spring). I have a whole editing timeline that stretches all the way into 2026, but whether or not it’ll work out as planned remains to be seen.

8. If you could have your greatest dream realized for this novel, what would it be?

Because it’s a pseudo-superhero story, I think it would be very cool to see this duology adapted into movies and/or graphic novels. I think those formats suit the genre quite well, and it would be neat to see the GenDevs’ abilities brought to life in a visual way, in particular. (Plus, gala heist. We all need more movies with gala heists, right?)

On a smaller scale, I hope it awakens interest in this world for readers and opens the door for more of the books connected to it to succeed; I have a fair number of book ideas set in Concordia, and they’re a large part of why I’m so excited to introduce the setting on a larger scale than the short stories I’ve previously published here and in Short Story Collection vol. 1.

9. Share some of your favorite snippets!

Finding snippets I like that aren’t ridden with spoilers is hard, so refer back to the previous installment for my favorites. XD

10. Did you glean any new writing and/or life lessons from writing this novel?

If you’re not enjoying a story anymore, step back, don’t keep pushing. Whether you need to step back just for long enough to remind yourself why you love this story or you need a longer break to avoid (or recover from) burnout, it is okay. The project will still be there when you get back, anyone who’s waiting on it will forgive you for the increased wait, and you will have so much easier of a time coming back to it than if you keep pushing and pushing yourself into worse and worse burnout first. The longer you spend burnt out on a project, the longer it takes to recover your appreciation for that story, the longer it takes before you can write it as well as you possibly can. Rest is not giving up; it’s an investment in better writing later.

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