Let's Talk Diamond... Again

4:30pm on the tenth of September, in the year of our Lord 2019...

Not that this moment will go down in history, but it was definitely a big moment for me. Because I finally finished the first draft of Diamond!

I feel like this book was tougher emotionally for me to write than either of the first two. The Rose and the Balloon was mainly fun and, while incorporating some danger and intrigue, didn't have a lot of heart-wrenching scenes for me. Spindle Dreams was definitely darker, with harder themes, but it, too, didn't make me feel like I was gasping for breath when I wrote the end.

Diamond, however... this story has taken me on an emotional roller coaster ride from day one. For anyone who's read SD's epilogue, they know I had some serious issues to cover with this story. Rapunzel, in many ways, has a lot of darker themes about it that other fairytales don't have. Writing "The End" this afternoon was like stepping off a roller coaster of emotions. It's going to take me a while to recover.

For now, though, my plan is to let the story sit and simmer for a while there in the rough drafts folder, and then I'm going to pull it out and begin the tough process of editing.

Some stats, though, before I leave?

My initial goal was to complete this story with the Rooglewood contest limits -- 20,000 words. Not that I was writing this story for a contest, since they are no more (*all the sniffs and tears*), but since that was my goal with the other books, I figured I should stick to it.

The final sentence of the book made it out to be exactly 23,000 words. Not 23,001 or 22,999. EXACTLY 23,000. Don't ask me how I did that.

Overall, I think this story was the fastest to write. RatB I finished in one summer for the Rooglewood contest (and never entered it), and SD took some months with some years' hiatus stuck in the middle. I don't remember exactly when I started Diamond, but it was sometime early this year. Some of the questions that had been floating in the back of my head from finishing up writing SD finally came with answers. It was then that I actually wrote the epilogue for SD and began penning up the first chapter for Diamond. I hit a few snags with the writing process, trying to figure things out. Once I really began writing, though, it came quickly.

Quickly, but rough emotionally. There's so much of me right now that wants to expand Diamond's story to explore everything I can't in 20,000 words. But I'll restrain myself. And stick to my plan. And maybe re-visit her in a short story.

Ha. Take that, Little Writer.

Anyway, I'm still alive. Diamond is rough but finished. And I'm ready for a nap.

How's your day going?

God bless!

Diamond: Info and Snippets

I am happy to report that we're plugging right along on Diamond! I've been excited about this book for a while, and I know there are plenty of mad readers out there who want this book after reading the epilogue to Spindle Dreams. Have no fear! It's coming!

Eventually.

I'm not 100% sure about my publishing timeline, as much depends on how giving birth to and surviving the newborn months with baby #2 goes. Also, how much trouble the formatting and cover give me. *le blech* But I would love to have Diamond available by next summer, next spring if we can swing it. I just can't make any promises yet. I was ambitious enough to promise Spindle Dreams last fall, and we all see how THAT turned out.

But since we just hit 14K yesterday, and it looks like I'll be keeping this book under a cozy 25K (I hope I didn't just jinx myself with that), I thought I'd hop onto dear old blogger and share some of the story with you all!

This cover is mere inspiration, not the final cover, as I don't hold the copyright for the background photo (please notice the watermark/name in the corner). 

Diamond is book three in my Once Upon a Twist Tales. These are interconnected fairytales retold backwards and upside-down with just a bit of steampunk thrown in for fun. They were intended to be standalone novellas, but Spindle Dreams kinda connected itself to Diamond, so they're not completely standalone anymore.

When considering the fairytale Rapunzel, the first thing I decided that must be backwards was the tower situation. Rapunzel wasn't going to be the one hiding in a tower. Oh, she'd be the usual confined and hidden from the world, but not in the tower. And from there, the story kinda catapulted on its own into what I've now got saved in my rough drafts.

The second most important thing to consider was her hair. I'll admit, I struggled with this for a really long time, and this was mainly what kept me from working on the book for a number of months. I just couldn't figure out why she had long hair. I didn't want to backwards that too much and give her short hair, because that felt like a bad, cop-out Rapunzel. If we're talking Rapunzel, she MUST have long hair and, likewise, have a reason for that long hair. That's the #1 issue with Rapunzel retellings. THE HAIR. And I'll be honest with you, folks. The hair ain't easy. I won't spoil what I settled on for Diamond, but I'm hoping readers will appreciate the hair and the reason.

One sentence summary of Diamond:

This time, Rapunzel isn't the one stuck in the tower, but his secrets may cost her her life. 

Snippet time! Enjoy!

Mother had said many strange things over the years, but when she came home with the news that she’d been framed for murder, that was new for Diamond.

~*~

Erland bowed. “I thank you again, and state to you a good night.” 

As he left the study, a grimace took over his face. The Rohesian language was not easy to master, and doubtless that had been the cause of the countries’ lasting tensions over the last few decades. Not anymore. The rolled parchments he now clutched in his hands were the key to solving all the international difficulties – or causing a hundred more. 

~*~

“Another bowl of pudding, my good man?” 

Seth rubbed his stomach and gave a rueful smile. After the thick cheese sandwiches, roasted vegetables, and first bowl of pudding, he doubted he could fit anything more. “No, I thank you. My stomach eats more than I can hold. Your wife is a wonderful cook.” 

The innkeeper beamed. “Of course, she is. You tell those fellows back in Trothen you never had a better cheese sandwich, you hear? It’s a shame you were the only man here tonight sensible enough to ask for them.” 

Seth saluted him and stumbled off the bench. “It will be the honor of mine. I will tell them of all.” The cheese sandwich definitely held its own proudly in the world of cuisine. 

~*~

At first, Diamond couldn’t make out what it was – Maybe a bear? – but as she moved closer, the hump began to look more and more like a human being. 

It wasn’t until she was almost standing next to it that she realized it was a human. Other than Mother, she’d never seen another human before in her life. With a tremble, she now looked upon her first stranger. It was definitely human, but the shoulders and chest were broader than hers or Mother’s. The head looked pretty normal, except for an extra pair of eyes that seemed to be made of glass sitting on the very top, looking out from black hair that was cut short at the neck. Instead of a skirt, the figure wore trousers that clung tightly to the legs, and a thick tunic that almost touched the knees. Little, dark hairs decorated the chin, and Diamond drew a deep breath. 

This isn’t a woman. 

A man. 

~*~

“Rapunzel,” he called once the trapdoor had opened and her head was in view, “I want to demonstrate to you something.” 

Old fascinations took on new enjoyment when you could show them off to people who’d never seen them before. He made a few colorful smoke bombs and watched her face. 

At the first one, she stepped back. “What kind of magic is that?” 

“Not magic,” he said, the response slipping easily from his mouth. “It’s alchemy.” 

She came closer. “What?” 

“I use different elements and transform them into something else. For example…” He showed her the two tubes he was using. “These two liquids, when combined, evaporate into a smoke.” The cloud he made nearly blocked her from view. 

~*~

God bless!

If At First You Don't Succeed...

(Or What I'm Learning About Self-Publishing)

Spindle Dreams has only been out for a few weeks now -- a grand total of eighteen days, if I'm not mistaken. I was pretty stoked to release this book to Amazon and the world, considering how long I'd been working on it, and also considering how many years it'd been since I released The Rose and the Balloon. A lot of people had asked for more after reading RatB, and I was excited to give them more.

However, I have had very mixed feelings on this new release. For one thing, I've had incredibly positive feedback from the few people who've read the book. My beta readers were absolute saints to read SD on short notice and tell me what they thought. Some of my readers now gush over how much they loved it, and others tell me that they hate me and I've ruined them from reading an epilogue ever again. Both of those responses tell me that I'm doing my job as a writer correctly.

But that's the thing... only a few people have read the book. We're going on three weeks of being published and readily available to pretty much everyone in the world, and I've not sold near as many copies as I expected to. In fact, my reports tell me I've not even sold five copies of Spindle Dreams -- paperback and ebook combined. SD has five stars on Amazon since I've only gotten one text review on the story. On Goodreads, there's two reviews.

I'll be honest with you. That hurts.

Don't get me wrong -- I wasn't expecting to be a billionaire overnight with this book. I didn't expect a million 5 star reviews. It wasn't nearly that way with The Rose and the Balloon. Debut novels, however, I'm realizing do a lot better than seconds. With RatB, I sold enough copies in the first few weeks to make about $50 in royalties. That blew me away. I didn't expect to do that well with my first book, but I was hoping that I would do half as well with the second. Only I didn't.

What went wrong? I've been asking myself this question for the last three weeks. I advertised. I tried to run a fun blog party with promotion posts here on Lianne Taimenlore. I visited other people's blogs when I could. I promoted the book on my Facebook author page. I ran a countdown on both my Instagram page and my Twitter page. What more could I have done?

I'm learning that the world of being a writer and getting published is not all sunshine and daisies. Spindle Dreams hit so many snags for me that delayed its publication; I was frustrated with the book and just wanted it out and be done with it. And that, I think, was my first mistake. I didn't build enough hype about the book BEFORE getting the cover released and the actual story published. In self-publishing, a HUGE part of doing well is just how much and how effectively you market yourself. And I am a lazy marketer, to put it simply. And people don't buy a book they don't know much about.

Also, as an indie author, keeping your name front and center in people's minds is key. After publishing The Rose and the Balloon, I went three years before I got anything else into the book market. Three years. That may not seem like a long time, but for a reader, it's a long time. This is another part of marketing yourself well. Since you don't have a big publishing house pushing your name out there for the world to see, the way you keep your name hot in this market is to keep it active. The best way to do that is to publish something a few times a year. If you can't do that since you're working with bigger books, keep people excited about what you're working on by keeping active on social media. Which was something else I really didn't do. Plus, I've gone those three years with nada.

Please understand I'm not writing this post to garner sympathy or guilt-trip people into buying my books and writing reviews. I just want to be honest about what's happening to me as a writer. And I know I'm not going to be the only one who goes through things like this. My hope is that what I've learned and gone through with self-publishing can help other indie authors grow as well. Writers need to learn to accept the ups and downs of the self-publishing life. When you hit a snag, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and try again. 

Self-publishing really is a learning process. There will be moments of extreme glory and excitement. There will also be times when you don't succeed. Just don't let those few failures keep you down.

Just try, try again. 

And that being said, I'm working on book three of the Once Upon a Twist Tales, folks. Diamond: A Rapunzel Story hopefully won't take another three years to complete.

God bless!