In spite having felt a personal slump in the creative department, nevertheless I am at least happy to say that 2020 was not a complete let down after all.
Now, as I (finally) gear up to release the 9th book (Titled: The Way Star) of the TMS serial – I can also finally see an end on the horizon – in that I now only have two more books left to complete this epic ‘forerunner’ of The Veil Keepers Quest.
I guess this might have made me a little more sensitive to my goals – and I cannot deny that it’s a little strange to think back on my choices of presentation and style. The Missing Shield was always of a slightly different concept as I wanted (amongst other things) to write something where the world building was underscored by a poetic feel, but I got to say that it’s been a little exhausting to keep up at times.
Interestingly, the serial has received all sorts of feedback from both ends of the scales. On one extreme, some readers downright hate it for the ‘purple’ prose and the flow, some accusing it of being ‘pretentious’ whilst others have complained that ‘nothing is happening’. On the other end of the scales, it’s been called vivid, epic, groundbreaking, imaginative, real enough to touch, and has received compliments on the beautiful poetic style of the prose, the deep characters, and the intriguing way the plot unfolds and weaves to bring all the threads of the story together.
I guess this shows you just cannot please everyone. I just wrote some books at the end of the day. For good or bad, it has certainly created some interesting conversations between people. Personally, I do reject the notion that it’s pretentious because… well hey… it just a book, lol. I also beg to differ when it comes to the comments on ‘nothing is happening’ – but I do admit that it does not give instant gratification because you do need to submerge yourself in the story first – but hey-hoo…
Is it different? Yes very much so! But it is what it is. A play to create something that stands apart. Will I write in that style once the serial is done? No, I confess I probably will not because I’ll be looking to make my life a little easier, lol, and this is a fact underscored by the way I have felt about writing book 9 where the pace is moving faster as events begin to draw together.
In sum: playing with prose has been interesting from a personal development perspective, but I cannot deny that the simpler flow of book 9 has felt far easier to write and that is something which I am looking forward to having some fun with in my stand-alone fantasy epic, The Smuggler of Renvarrah, which will hopefully release in 2021.
Nevertheless, here’s to daring to do what you want and experiment in the first place. Sometimes the muse calls to us in different ways and listening is the only way to grow. 💖
PS – ‘The Way Star’ is out at the end of December, so now is the time to grab yourself a FREE Advanced Reader copy (ARC) in exchange for a fair and respectful review on Amazon, Goodreads (and if possible Bookbub) when it goes live.
How? Easy! Just contact me via my website ‘contact page or use: https://twitter.com/LLThomsen1 / https://www.instagram.com/llthomsen/?hl=en / https://www.facebook.com/linda.thomsen.12979 or email llthomsen@themissingshield.com
PPS To those of you who have already been in touch – I apologise for the delay and promise to get a copy to you asap! 🙂🎉
