The first book.
I did have some vague publishing plans in mind for it, though they have long since changed.
At first, this story was going to be a short story, but then, it grew. I thought it might end up being two or three different novellas, all revolving around the same protagonist as she went through her world. Then it grew some more. Now that I’m very much in the meat of it, it will be a standalone novel, much as I already predicted in a previous post.
Some time ago, a friend asked me what my ‘elevator pitch’ for the story was, knowing nothing about it (or my overall writings, in fact) and being curious about it. This is what I told them in answer:
Slavic folklore-inspired fantasy-adventure story featuring a woman and her companion as they deal with magic beasts, and try to figure out the meaning behind the cryptic message her dying aunt left with her.
The initial idea came to me while experiencing the Witcher III by CDProjekt Red (or the Wikipedia page, if you prefer), with the very basic premise of: Well, there should be lady witchers, dammit.
Which, of course, is why its first conception was as a series of short stories. It had its own plan, however, and now I’ve got a story that I deeply adore crafting and visiting. It’s a world created somewhat differently than I go about making fantasy worlds, but it’s worked, so I’m more than happy to keep following the threads it gives me.
This is not a carbon copy of either Andrzej Sapkowski‘s works or the game itself, but rather inspired by the richness of those stories and the cultural influences they have.
This is a story of a woman who is making her way through a magic-infused world with the ghosts of both her personal past and familial past dogging her heels, where the weight of misinformed actions create a ripple effect of imbalance the entire world feels, that must be righted.
Part of it is deeply personal for me, but mostly it’s just a world I love writing in and exploring and developing more of. (There may even be an independent short story set in the same world coming very soon.)
I’m so excited to work on it so I can share it with all of you.