A bit of Hype for Wavendreem's Garden

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WillemSvdMerwe's avatar
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There is a major project of mine that I want to share with you all here in DA: my stories, the ‘Wavendreem’s Garden’ series.  I’ve been trying to get them published for a while but it’s very difficult trying to get agents interested in them.  I’ll keep on trying, but I really want them to be ‘out there’.  The idea around them is rather complicated and weird, but I am sure people will ‘get’ the stories once they actually start reading them.  So: I’m going to share them here, bit by bit.  I would appreciate any advice of course, since I’m not quite sure how to do it.  For now: I’ll first hype them a bit here in journal entries, telling folks what they’re all about.  Then I’ll start submitting them as extracts … in order, making a gallery for them, so no-one will miss any of the story.  I’ll just start at the start and submit a readable piece each time … with illustrations added!  I’ve been working on the illustrations for a while now and have a few of them finished.  They’re still in my simple straightforward style … if you’ve seen ‘Narlesha the Dragonslayer’ you’ll have an idea, except the new illustrations are in colour!

 

‘Narlesha the Dragonslayer’ is in fact a silly folk tale situated inside the ‘Wavendreem’s Garden’ story world.   The main stories will be rather different, somewhat more serious and realistic.  Basically, they’re stories of epic adventure featuring my heroines Valerie, Vivienne and Bridget.  They’re a mix of science fiction and fantasy, and I try to do many things differently from how most writers have so far done them.  So they’re quite experimental, with some things in them you’ll not have seen before, but I really think after all this time working on them that they do work.  I’m making them less grim and dark than many stories these days are … you the reader will have to judge, but I really am aiming for something light, fun and positive.  The stories are also for relaxed reading, for people who enjoy long books!  I don’t know how long it will take to publish them chapter for chapter here, but if you are really impatient you can contact me and I’ll send you the full stories.  The first story, ‘The Disenchanted Kingdom’, is somewhat over 200 000 words. 

 

I’m still figuring out how I’m going to do this.  I’m thinking of publishing each piece under a relevant illustration … but I don’t want the illustrations to give away anything in the story before the reader has had a chance to read the text!  So maybe each illustration should pertain to the previous piece of text.  Also I think every 10th instalment or so, to give a brief recap of the story so far.  Those without the time to read the entire chapters, might even get by just on reading these summaries.  Does that sound like a good system?

 

Whatever the case, I’m going to try this.  I’d like to see the kind of interest and based on that decide how to go further.  I’m thinking of eventually perhaps publishing them as e-books myself, for a very reasonable price.  But I want to share them as much as possible here on DA.  I don’t think them being here for free would necessarily detract from the e-books since over here they will be in bite-sized chunks, whereas the e-book would be the entire thing, which would be more convenient – and the price is really going to be very reasonable!  Again, I’d like to hear what people think.

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Mouselemur's avatar
You've certainly got me interested after having enjoyed Narlesha the Dragonslayer :)
Interspersing the story with illustrations submitted into your gallery sounds like a decent plan to make sure you're not giving away the story and pique people's interest as we will actually get a visual.
200,000 words sounds like a lot, but then, when you read an actual book, you only have the amount of pages to go on, and those don't discourage me either ;) So I guess we'll be patiently waiting until you're ready :D