In my previous post, I set my goal to finish writing my novel by the end of February. I’m more than thrilled to announce that I met that goal, coming in just shy of 148k words (nearly triple the goal of NaNoWriMo). I know it’s already well into March, but it just goes to show that life doesn’t wait for us to quit dragging our feet!
In this post, I’ll share a little about the history and inspiration for my novel, along with a brief blurb that will hopefully whet the appetite of all the people who’ve asked me what my book is about and who received lackluster answers from me while I was in the mire of writing it!
Writing is a way for me to process reality from a different avenue, and I know I’m not unique in that way. After all, that’s why we read books or play video games or watch movies: to escape from our own lives and explore things we might never have a chance to otherwise. This whole project has been very much a creative outlet for many things going on in our world and my own personal life, as well as delving into some of the more timeless themes that linger in our memories long after we close the book cover.
How it all started
I was in 8th grade when the very first version of this story began. The mental image of a girl crying under a tree and surrounded by flowers was the sole catalyst to begin my writing journey. I had no plot, no world, no characters, no explanations, nothing. Just a few questions and the challenge I gave myself to bring a book to completion.
Flash forward a few years and I had finally penned the last word of the first draft of Lily’s Passage (which then went by a totally different name). It had undergone many twists and turns in the three years it took me to write, and I recognized that it would require significant work if I ever pursued it seriously. So I set it aside and thought that maybe some things were best left forgotten.
But I couldn’t forget. Because in every subsequent story I tried to write, whether related to my fantasy world or not, I found little bits of my original idea rearing their heads. Sometimes it was a character that had particularly gripped me, or maybe a motif that I just couldn’t shake. But I was so intimidated by how much worldbuilding I needed to do that I kept filing it away under “someday.”
Until finally, “someday” arrived, some ten years since the first word was recorded. After a particularly inspiring conversation with my younger brother (who has fond memories of sitting in my room while we brainstormed ways to get so-and-so out of the pickle they were in and what-have-you), I decided the time was ripe to revisit the story I once thought I’d laid to rest. As I began picking it apart to find the elements I wanted to salvage, I realized that the story I needed to tell was much bigger than I had ever planned for it to be.
Because in the time we spent apart, my plot and my characters had grown up with me. I knew they couldn’t stay as they were, so I set to work reinventing them in a more mature light. The story as it is now has undergone such a dramatic transformation that it’s almost unrecognizable from the original draft (which is why I sometimes accidentally refer to it as my “first draft”). The result is one that I hope will resonate with my readers as much as it has resonated with me.
Themes
Lily’s Passage is as much a coming-of-age story as it is the characters’ journey to find themselves. I’m not a fan of spoilers and a novel is an evolving being, so I’ll keep it general. Here are some overarching themes that have emerged as I plunged into the world of Alderdale.
- Darkness vs. light
- Choices have consequences
- Love means sacrifice
- Life is sacred
Lily’s Passage story blurb
War wages in the land of Alderdale. After nearly two decades of conflict, the Elven kingdom has prospered, but at the cost of the other species within its borders. With racial tensions high and confusion turning people against each other, the magic that once united the kingdom now threatens to tear it apart.
Reeling with dreams of grandeur, Farrah is a village girl who longs to see the world. She never thought she would get involved in anything bigger than a life in the border town she grew up in, but when she finds a body in the woods one day, her life changes forever.
Embittered by his heritage and running from his past, Asken is no stranger to hardship. He knows all too well the horrors of war, no matter how much he tries to forget it all. But a chance meeting in the market pulls him deeper into the conflict he wanted to stay out of.
Thrown together by unlikely circumstances, Farrah and Asken embark on a journey in which they must discover the meaning of loyalty, that choices have consequences, and that truth comes at a high price.
Looking ahead
Lily’s Passage is the first in a trilogy of stories that chronicles the progression of a civil war in Alderdale, a world full of magic and mystery. I’m already working on the second book, even though the first has a ways to go before I’m ready for publishing. I look forward to bringing others along on the journey as this story continues to unfold. If you’re interested in hearing more, reach out to me and I’d love to indulge you! Thank you to all those who have supported me thus far on the journey, for in the words of Helen Keller, “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.”