Hopeful Scraps of Paper
Snapshot from when I was 100/150 query rejections in. I often collect positive feedback —or maybe it doesn't seem positive to everyone—but to me, these were moments when my confidence grew exponentially and hope blossomed.
- When a good friend, my first Beta, offered to read my work and give me feedback, despite it being in version 1.0. She would proceed to ask for subsequent versions. By the end, I was on version 14.0.
- My second Beta, an avid reader of fantasy, read version 9.0 and gave his feedback.
- Two unrelated friends (a project manager and the other a GP by career) offered me advice as readers for how to tighten my synopsis and agent letter.
- Feedback from about 5 different agents at different times gave me advice on how to tighten up my story.
- Feedback from four different writer groups on my writing, pace, and plot.
- Feedback from a governor general award-winning author on my pace and plot.
- Feedback from editors, copy editors, publishers, literary agents, you name it. The random overheard advice that I digested and used.
- The interest of friends and family whose ears I burned off with my chatter.
- I could go on.
You win zero of the races you don't enter.
FANTASY: PAWN OF SAMSARA (POS)
Original Synopsis:
Two hybrids were created for a purpose: to serve and protect. Their success is tempered by circumstance. Both are cut loose, abandoned, and left to find their way through Samsara alone.
Who would desire a fierce lion at their hearth? Sinha is a young immortal asura with the power to transform between the forms of lion and man. Struggling with identity, he gravitates to the familiar, which turns out to be the reincarnations of his long-dead companions.
What price would you pay to safeguard your loved ones? The water buffalo god, Isha, is playing with fire when his ambition lands him a coveted role under the Asura King. Good intentions pave the path to hell. Isha is slow to realize his mistake. He is out of time. Cursed, he descends into madness.
Notable Quotes
From Chapter 5 | Another will solve the problem.
She took a step back, assessing the over-large beast in his arms. It was the size of a small dog, redder than a cow, but with a serpentine flexibility, allowing it to curl up in Oumo’s lap. Its tufted ears were pointed. It's eyes, as strange as a goat’s but sideways, stared.
Status
Working title: A Lion's Head
A.K.A. Pawn of Samsara, Sinha's Origins - split into two books A Lion's Head and A Lion's Pride.
✅ Mythological Fantasy Fiction @ 94K+ words. (>4k words with revisions)
✅ Sought representation by literary agents. 100+ rejections!
✅ Submitted to three publishers.
✅ Beta reader feedback received and processed.
✅ Sensitivity check feedback received and processed.
✅ Processing by 3rd party editor services.
✅ Revisions. V.13.0 | Nearly done.
✅ Cover Art for eBook
✅ eBook format release | Assumption: those who love the book WILL preorder the hardcopy.
✅ Marketing plan for free giveaway to ARC readers
✅ Print format production and release
Cover art? Jenne reminded me that the first cover isn't the final cover. A half-decent cover will be good. I will ask Rachel Rosen for help.
I am debating self-publishing this work. 🤞🏽 An editor from ECW likes it and gets back to me within the next month. I will send her the final copy.
HARD STOP: ISLE OF DEMONS begins polishing stages, I will self-publish. That's a long enough timeline... but boy, am I getting impatient to put this out there.
Feedback
"Also, you should know that your book turned me into a fantasy reader. I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately but I would have never been open to it if I hadn’t loved your lion god book so much :) I tell other fantasy readers about it all the time!" - Jessica Leslie, Author from Firefly Workshop
"About the sensitivity check, there’s nothing that seemed problematic to me. I remember you wrote that you had humanised ‘Narasimha’ to ‘Sinha’ … however, the parallels between the two are very easy to draw. But that is not something to worry about, I’d say. My opinion so far is that it is clear that your story is a creative reimagining of stories from the subcontinent’s mythologies, or takes its seed from them. But there’s nothing here that should offend anyone. I mean even our epics have lots of different versions so there’s no reason why someone shouldn’t use them as inspiration in our time." - Aarushi Nigam, Sensitivity Reader
"There's a lot about this that grabbed me. It's doing something different, and I love when writers take swings. But ultimately, I didn't feel confident I was the right person to champion it. Sometimes it's just gut, and I trust mine.
If you're working on something else in the future, I'd love to see it.
Will be cheering for you from here." - Jessica Berg, Rosecliff Literary
The Pawn of Samsara Duology
My author journey to publish these novels is complete, but Sinha and Isha's immortal lifespans are only just beginning.
Member discussion