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shalannaMy novel _Dulcinea_ made it into the December _Realms of Fantasy_, p. 99. It's on the upper right-hand corner of the page.
Okay, that's a display ad. (Y'all knew that right away.) But I didn't tell my mother that. *sheepish grin* For once, she was proud of me and of the novel, so I just showed it to her and kept quiet. She actually thought it was editorial. I didn't correct her. So sue me.
This is cool. It means, however, that I need to edit my website's front page so that if people go there, they can get redirected to Amazon to order it if they'd like to.
I am tempted to have a spot on that front page to click on that says, "Referred here by Realms of Fantasy? Click here for a $2 rebate!" And then I'd have people who bought the book send me their store receipts, purchase price circled (and this can be done with a mail order or Amazon order, too, because they do send you a receipt), and I'd send them a couple of bucks back, no questions asked. That might tempt a few of 'em to buy the book. I wish it could be price-pointed a bit lower myself, but that's not up to me. The people who didn't like the book could then donate it to a shelter or take it to a used book store. As I've mentioned before, I want it to be read, and I know there are people who have enjoyed it, because they've emailed me--and I've even gone to two book clubs to be the speaker for the day they discuss the book. That's fun but nerve-wracking, as you might imagine. It's better to just imagine an author than to meet her in all her non-glory. (wink)
I'll tell you up front that most readers I've heard from liked the book, but after all it didn't win the Warner contest, and it begins with more of a character-driven vibe than with an action story the way most fantasy novels are supposed to. Some people would like _Dulcinea_ to begin in the middle of chapter three, because they would like it to be all about saving the world. But that's not what the story is really about. It's really about Dulcinea's coming of age. The opening scene shows you the first time she's really had any contact with a marraiageable man who isn't a village idiot or her father . . . it's a description of the first time she's ever been turned on or attracted to anyone, though it's not said that way, but shown . . . and it's the first time she's ever felt That Way. The scenes that follow lay the groundwork for two things--the emotional groundwork for a sheltered teenage girl who has never been ten miles from home (and never left home without her father) to be ready to run away with a near-stranger and have that be logical, and the logical groundwork for that stranger (Raz) to be hiding out in their village and then have a blow-up with Dulcie's dad and be forced to lose that "cover story" and take off. He was not what he seemed all along, which Dulcinea suspected and her dad didn't so much. Raz unthinkingly got them involved when he decided to go into hiding there and pretend to be an apprentice to her dad. That's where the action story kicks in and why she's involved. I don't want to write the solely-action story because it doesn't interest me as much as the separation-story and the coming-of-age thing, where she becomes convinced that he must feel the same as she does (he doesn't) and that she can follow him and Help him. Um, but anyhow, most readers wouldn't even notice that; it's a select few who notice it and think there's only One True Way. Fair warning. Now those of you who think "Harry Potter" is slow-paced can skip mine, as well. *grin*
But if you like Jane Yolen and Diana Wynne Jones, that's who I think the book "reads" similarly to. And like me, of course.
Okay, that's a display ad. (Y'all knew that right away.) But I didn't tell my mother that. *sheepish grin* For once, she was proud of me and of the novel, so I just showed it to her and kept quiet. She actually thought it was editorial. I didn't correct her. So sue me.
This is cool. It means, however, that I need to edit my website's front page so that if people go there, they can get redirected to Amazon to order it if they'd like to.
I am tempted to have a spot on that front page to click on that says, "Referred here by Realms of Fantasy? Click here for a $2 rebate!" And then I'd have people who bought the book send me their store receipts, purchase price circled (and this can be done with a mail order or Amazon order, too, because they do send you a receipt), and I'd send them a couple of bucks back, no questions asked. That might tempt a few of 'em to buy the book. I wish it could be price-pointed a bit lower myself, but that's not up to me. The people who didn't like the book could then donate it to a shelter or take it to a used book store. As I've mentioned before, I want it to be read, and I know there are people who have enjoyed it, because they've emailed me--and I've even gone to two book clubs to be the speaker for the day they discuss the book. That's fun but nerve-wracking, as you might imagine. It's better to just imagine an author than to meet her in all her non-glory. (wink)
I'll tell you up front that most readers I've heard from liked the book, but after all it didn't win the Warner contest, and it begins with more of a character-driven vibe than with an action story the way most fantasy novels are supposed to. Some people would like _Dulcinea_ to begin in the middle of chapter three, because they would like it to be all about saving the world. But that's not what the story is really about. It's really about Dulcinea's coming of age. The opening scene shows you the first time she's really had any contact with a marraiageable man who isn't a village idiot or her father . . . it's a description of the first time she's ever been turned on or attracted to anyone, though it's not said that way, but shown . . . and it's the first time she's ever felt That Way. The scenes that follow lay the groundwork for two things--the emotional groundwork for a sheltered teenage girl who has never been ten miles from home (and never left home without her father) to be ready to run away with a near-stranger and have that be logical, and the logical groundwork for that stranger (Raz) to be hiding out in their village and then have a blow-up with Dulcie's dad and be forced to lose that "cover story" and take off. He was not what he seemed all along, which Dulcinea suspected and her dad didn't so much. Raz unthinkingly got them involved when he decided to go into hiding there and pretend to be an apprentice to her dad. That's where the action story kicks in and why she's involved. I don't want to write the solely-action story because it doesn't interest me as much as the separation-story and the coming-of-age thing, where she becomes convinced that he must feel the same as she does (he doesn't) and that she can follow him and Help him. Um, but anyhow, most readers wouldn't even notice that; it's a select few who notice it and think there's only One True Way. Fair warning. Now those of you who think "Harry Potter" is slow-paced can skip mine, as well. *grin*
But if you like Jane Yolen and Diana Wynne Jones, that's who I think the book "reads" similarly to. And like me, of course.
