Hi! I’m still getting acclimated to Beehiiv, so here we go. My name’s Sarah, and I’m a fantasy writer gearing up for my first indie release.
I’ve been telling stories since before I can remember, but there are a few moments that stand out. My brothers and I were homeschooled, and when I was probably around seven or eight, our mom assigned us a project of writing, illustrating, and binding our own books. I was hooked. I would type up stories on the family computer in the kitchen, dreaming of one day being a real author. The first somewhat long-form manuscript that I finished was a Redwall fanfic when I was about eleven (my early love for Redwall probably explains why I’m still drawn to elaborate, mouthwatering descriptions of food). I fell in love with writing fanfics (most of which, fortunately, I never posted online anywhere).
Eventually, I learned the skill of persevering through a draft. Most of my drafts were awful, but as they added up, a few of them stuck with me. In college, I even polished up one of those manuscripts and queried a couple of agents (before almost immediately giving up).
So my first querying experience was a flop. But I went back to the drawing board and kept writing, as well as meeting other writers. I also got deeply into researching fairytales; always one of my favorite genres and now a major hobby. And then I wrote the book. It flowed right out of me; the plot came together instantly. It was a sci fi-fantasy fairytale mashup. And I was positive I could get it published.
On my quest, I started looking for critique partners and checking out writing conferences. In 2021 I submitted my manuscript to PitchWars, and although I didn’t get in, I did join Velvet Steel, a wonderful writing group of fellow contestants. (Check out upcoming novels Juniper Klein’s Where the Bones Took Root and Jenni Howell’s Teach Me to Prey, and J. K. Lafond’s short stories.)
I learned so much about publishing, and I sent out query after query… a total of 93. The goal was 100, but after a certain point, I couldn’t find any more agents whose wishlist fit. And I was starting to burn out. There were a few partials and fulls, but never the longed-for “Do you have time for a call?” Also, as much as I still loved this book, it wasn’t really to market and I was increasingly seeing its flaws.
I moved on to other projects. I tried querying a few, like one of my old NaNo projects, a Greek mythology retelling with a twist of Beauty and the Beast. I’d fully rewritten it several times, researching more deeply, fine-tuning, getting feedback. And it was good; people seemed to like it. I even got a full request. But that full was followed by a (very kind and thoughtful) rejection. That agent’s words stuck with me; I knew she was right about the issues, but how to fix them? Something in the story just wasn’t gelling. Plus, the market for retellings seemed pretty saturated. So I put that project on the back burner, but I kept thinking about it off and on, trying to figure out how to fix it.
Meanwhile, various writing friends took different paths – some traditional, some indie, some hybrid. As I went on learning, I saw the publishing landscape shifting. Although I still would have loved the support of trad pub, the freedom of indie started to appeal to me more and more. I also watched fellow writers tackling indie pub and thought… maybe I could do that. The freedom appealed to me more and more. I also realized that self-publishing didn’t mean the door to querying was closed forever. Maybe one day I’ll explore trad pub again.
And then as I was looking at the Greek myth retelling, some things finally fell into place. I knew how to fix it, what the ending should be, where the characters should wind up.
I’m planning to release that book later this year - so stay tuned for more announcements!