The Manifestation of Magic has been out for a while now (and so far it still has a five star rating, woo-hoo!), so I decided it was time to have a little talk about it.
Deciding on book two
For starters, it took me an eternity to decide whether this would actually be book two or book three. Why? Because 'The White Eclipse', which eventually became a prequel, or book 1.5, was originally going to be book two.
After some serious discussion with my beta readers and editor, who felt that 'The White Eclipse' being a prequel about someone else disrupted the story line too much, I decided to actually publish it as prequel. Making the previously book three now book two and the previously book four now book three, and so on and so forth.
If that sounds confusing to you, don't worry, it confuses me and my editor too, but we manage to deal with it somehow.
Writing book two
As I'm sure I've mentioned before, writing this entire serious was done in about six months, which as I think about it even now, is just insane. My fingers just moved out of their own and I couldn't stop my ideas from flowing out.
This also meant that I thought I would be publishing these books one after the other. Reality can be a bit of a B, though, as you no doubt are aware.
After finishing all six books, I had to start rewriting. And so far, rewriting has been the most difficult for book two. (Although book three has proven to be a real pain in the tush as well).
I was, as I usually am, pretty okay with the middle part, but the beginning and ending must have changed a hundred times. Not to mention that I think I added about 25.000 words or more. Which is about five chapters I believe.
The hardest part
Especially the ending was difficult. I won't spoil anything in case you haven't read it yet, but everything pretty much goes to hell in a hand basket and it was difficult for me to describe all the emotion that came along with it. Not so much because I couldn't find the words for it, but because it was as emotionally devastating for myself as it was for Thera. And having to rewrite that again and again to put more feeling into it didn't make that any easier. But that's the life of a writer, I guess.
I managed to make at least one of my beta readers cry, so although I feel bad for putting her through that, I feel that all that effort was definitely worth it. (Yes, I know you're immediately thinking that all those memes about authors being twisted are true and I am okay with that).
The good stuff
The entire book isn't just sad, of course, so don't worry. There's plenty of good moments as well. An adorable development in Thera and Dayn's relationship for example. One of the things I love to write, because it means I get to squeal over Dayn. (Yes, I do that even though I am the one who completely made him up. But be honest, don't we all do that?)
Not to mention that just like in book one, we see Nayana, Fionn, Mori, and Thera being the amazingly close family that they are, trying to get through any hardship they run into together.
And of course you'll get to see some beautiful new places, a lot of exciting magic and a bunch of interesting new characters. Voras, for example, who starts out acting as a bit of a huge jerk to Thera.
That's all for now!
Obviously, I can go on about this forever, but I'll hold back for now. Hopefully, this has given you some context about book two, but most importantly, I hope it enticed you to pick it up and give it a read!
As always, let me know what you thought about it. You can do that by leaving a review on the Amazon or Goodreads page, which will help me out a lot!
You can also comment here, contact me through email, or find me on social media. I'll be happy to hear from you in any way!
Be sure to sign up to my newsletter to stay up-to-date about my books, writing updates, promos, and new blogposts!
Comments