Today, I received the final notes about Children of the Lie from my beta readers, and I’m both delighted and deeply grateful.
My readers are highly intelligent people with excellent insight into the writing process. They are both widely read, with a forensic eye for editorial errors and stylistic issues. I value their constructive criticism and their constant encouragement, both of which enable me to produce my best work.
This trilogy has been exceptionally demanding to complete. It started as a single novel, complete in itself. However, many of my readers had fallen in love with the characters and pleaded for more stories of their exploits. I agreed gladly, but then found myself obliged to reckon with the intricacies of the myth on which this present-day saga was based.
Although they lived in the twenty-first century, my characters were held in thrall to an ancient and powerful archetype which directed their lives in unexpected ways. So how best to interweave, in a realistic manner, the two levels of reality – the everyday world and the dreamlike realm of intuition? How to pull together the strands of a complicated plot, while maintaining the pace and allowing my characters to evolve?
Small wonder that it’s taken over a year to complete the final volume to everyone’s satisfaction!
Whenever it comes time to publish, the familiar demons of imposter syndrome and performance anxiety creep in from the shadows. So, as I prepare the final edit, I will carry with me some of the encouraging comments my beta readers have offered.
“… as before, you have created a very compelling narrative … [demonstrating] a real and deep understanding of the creative process, with all its richness and significance.
It is really remarkable how you have sustained the narrative so consistently over three volumes and developed the characters and themes.
You wrote with knowledge and passion of human frailties [and] the character development was such, that when I had finished the series, I felt as though I had said goodbye to old friends.
It has been a privilege to have been a beta reader. I look forward to the next production. You would be an excellent crime writer!”
On which note: several people have suggested I might turn to detective fiction, featuring some of the characters from The Children of Myth. It’s certainly food for thought – but for now – the time has come to finalise the manuscript and send it forth into the world to seek its fortune!
I hope you will read the trilogy and enjoy the fruits of my years of immersion in the world I have created – a world in which we journey from the shores of Sydney Harbour to the ancient ruins of Crete, from the western plains of New South Wales to the mysterious Northern Rivers landscape, from Paris to the playgrounds of the Cote d’Azur – a world in which nothing is quite as it seems…
AND... If you would like advance notification of publication of Children of the Lie, please contact me so I can add you to the mailing list. There will be special offers for early listings!
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