I realized the other day that folks had been waiting a really, really, long time to find out what happened to my characters after Sera, the element of fire, was found in book 3. I feel bad about that since her story came out in 2018 and I know that is way too long to expect someone to wait for a book release. However, I feel my excuse is pretty valid and I am sorry to say folks, that you will just have to wait a tiny bit longer.
I’m a pantser, flying by the seat of my pants as I happily pull stories from my mind and put them on paper. I know I have mentioned most of this before, but I wrote books 1 through 3 merrily telling the story, then came to a screeching halt for book 4. I had a ton of plot strings I had created, without any idea how I would be tying them up. I also had an antagonist that was getting continually worse as the books went on, but I didn’t really know why. I knew I had to backtrack and figure out where the heck I was going with all of it, or I would never finish the series. So while I did publish last year, they were both books that told the story about how all of the characters, the antagonist included, made their way into book 1.
Confused? Welcome to the club! At the time, I wasn’t sure where I was going with it, or if it was even something that folks would want to read, but I felt compelled to write a prequel. And I am here to say, I am so glad I did since I now know I needed to “fill the well” in order to finish book 4, Heaven on Earth. I took trips, and really thought long and hard about why my characters were doing the things they were doing. I knew who Earth was, I knew what her powers would be, but I was lacking a hero and motivation for my baddie. I also have a thing for anti-heroes (just think Loki, or Han Solo), so I toyed with the idea of giving my antagonist some redeeming qualities. I mean, he had to have them right? Zilla put up with some crap, and I asked myself what was it that made her stay through everything he put her through? As I answered the questions, the idea for Twist of Fate was born. What was even better was as I wrote it, the hero introduced himself. I was really able to nail down Theo’s personality and traits as I went right in to drafting the final book, Heaven on Earth.
My plan was to use Twist of Fate as a reader magnet, but it ended up being too long. Not to mention, it ended up as Dark Fantasy, not romance, which really messed up my marketing plan. But I am a firm believer in following your characters around and writing down what they do and say, and it was pretty clear a few chapters in that some of them weren’t going to make it. Some horrible stuff had to happen in order for the power to become so imbalanced by the last book, and I suppose a lot of what was going on in the world bled into my thought process when drafting. We ultimately reap what we sow, and I felt that this story had to be told in order to understand what was at stake for my characters.
Because the prequel was relatively short, I decided to write another story to build my newsletter list. The reader magnet ended up being a novelette, The Jinni’s Wish, since I wanted to tell Sevilla’s story a few years after the fateful day that you read about in the prequel. The story is a little lighter, and there is a touch of romance, but no sexy bits. What I liked about that story was that it was quick to write, and a lot quicker to format and release than a book with 100,000 words. I also liked the idea of second chances and it gave my secondary characters a chance to shine.
So now we are here, full circle, and Heaven on Earth has wrapped up every small plot item I opened in each of the other books. We have characters getting married, having kids, and morphing into mythical creatures. The entire process had me looking back at the first book, my debut, and wondering what I could do to make it better. It too will be going through some changes, and I will be tightening up the story a bit, making sure that everything new ties in with both the newer and older work. And we are cleaning up covers, formatting and interiors to bring you a polished and beautifully packaged product. I can’t wait to share the relaunch deets with you, it truly is putting my best foot forward!
While there was a ton that happened in the final book, and a whole mess of characters to keep track of, I truly feel that I have done justice to the world that I created over 6 years ago. Will I visit? Are there more stories to tell? I can’t promise anything since there are way more projects planned than I have time for, however, I do know one thing… they will all get their happily ever afters if I can help it!
Want to know what I’m up to? Interested in what kind of shenanigans I am getting myself into? Be sure to follow me on Social have my blog emailed to your inbox to get updates! In the meantime, happy reading! XO
D.A. Henneman - Romance Author 
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