Royal Ball: Are You Ready?

So…I have to say that I’m really excited for Pimpernel: Royal Ball…but maybe not for the reasons you’d expect.

Often—and, some might say, always—things come to us differently in our minds than they end up manifesting in the real world. We create some elaborate mental picture and, when we go to manifest it in reality, some things don’t translate from the mental to the physical the way we thought.

This always happens to me when I write. Characters come to me fully formed and are pretty immutable, but they are pretty resistant to formulaic story arcs and have no allegiance to outlines. So I have to be willing to be flexible when they start pushing back on forced moves.

With Pimpernel I thought I was going to write the whole series on a certain level, with many dynamics touched on but not fully explained. It worked in my mind, but when I wrote it out, it just came across as convoluted and intentionally obtuse.

Characters I was trying to keep a bit masked had no interest in hiding, and even less interest in being chronically misunderstood in the name of mystery. They looked at how they were coming across on the page and just shook their heads, sighing as if to say, “It’s your life. Do what you will…but I’m over here if you're open to any suggestions.”

Still, I kept writing…sensing the judgy eyes of my muses that forced me to objectively admit that the transition from mental mansion to written page had some serious hiccups and honest complaining points. And no one wants that in a book they take the time to read, so I had to back up a bit. Think a bit. And, as I thought, I realized something.

The muses are right. Skip the soft-shoeing. Skip the roundabout route. It’s time to let you into the world.

Life’s short, right? So let’s get fancy.

For all those who are up for the ride, Royal Ball is the onramp to the world Jack operates in. And I love that world. I thought I had to wait to bring you in. Turns out, I totally didn’t.

So step further into the world of Jack, Margot, Ren, Claire, and Kali with Pimpernel: Royal Ball. I love the world, and hope you do too!

I’ll let you know the December release date soon!