Cameron Darrow's Blog, page 21
February 14, 2019
What is Hall of Mirrors About?
In a word: consequences. The dramatic ending of The Fires of Winter didn't happen in a vacuum. A lot of people saw it, and now how do people react to that? Not always how you'd think.
Some are empowered by it, and Longstown gets to host its first suffrage rally. Some are terrified and resentful, and a young witch is sentenced to die. Some are disappointed, and demand answers as to why 200 years of secrecy was blown up in such spectacular fashion.
But it's not only the consequences of what we've seen that haunt our protagonists. What happens when you stop running from horror and you're forced to live with the memories? What happens when the woman you love is finally able to pursue her ambitions, while you're left at home? What happens when your dreams are denied, and the immense power you wield is useless to make them come true?
Hall of Mirrors, like all of my books, is about the characters, their growth, their relationships (romantic and otherwise), their love of and loyalty to one another, and standing up for what they believe is right, consequences be damned.
With a new, fourth (and final!) POV character, new witches, more magic, and our first trip outside of Britain, to witness one of the most consequential moments in 20th century history, Hall of Mirrors is both bigger and smaller than its predecessors, and I hope you'll enjoy it just as much.
I'm very excited to share it with you!
Hall of Mirrors, out March 12!
Some are empowered by it, and Longstown gets to host its first suffrage rally. Some are terrified and resentful, and a young witch is sentenced to die. Some are disappointed, and demand answers as to why 200 years of secrecy was blown up in such spectacular fashion.
But it's not only the consequences of what we've seen that haunt our protagonists. What happens when you stop running from horror and you're forced to live with the memories? What happens when the woman you love is finally able to pursue her ambitions, while you're left at home? What happens when your dreams are denied, and the immense power you wield is useless to make them come true?
Hall of Mirrors, like all of my books, is about the characters, their growth, their relationships (romantic and otherwise), their love of and loyalty to one another, and standing up for what they believe is right, consequences be damned.
With a new, fourth (and final!) POV character, new witches, more magic, and our first trip outside of Britain, to witness one of the most consequential moments in 20th century history, Hall of Mirrors is both bigger and smaller than its predecessors, and I hope you'll enjoy it just as much.
I'm very excited to share it with you!
Hall of Mirrors, out March 12!
February 11, 2019
Hall of Mirrors Will Be Out March 12!
I am very happy to announce that the third book in the From the Ashes of Victory series, Hall of Mirrors, will be available worldwide on March 12, exclusively on Amazon!
The pre-order page, complete with all the details, can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NKXPLMS. I am aiming to have Hall of Mirrors, along with the first two books, available as a paperbacks that same day, but they're not quite ready to go up yet. They will be, though!
This is the date I was shooting for, and I am very, very happy to finally be able to share it all with you! I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Thank you for your patience, I hope you'll find it was worth the wait.
The pre-order page, complete with all the details, can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NKXPLMS. I am aiming to have Hall of Mirrors, along with the first two books, available as a paperbacks that same day, but they're not quite ready to go up yet. They will be, though!
This is the date I was shooting for, and I am very, very happy to finally be able to share it all with you! I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Thank you for your patience, I hope you'll find it was worth the wait.
February 7, 2019
The Rush of Creation
I had my first interview with Book IV of From the Ashes of Victory this week, (Mirrors news next week, finally!) and it gave me an experience I've never had before.
The rush of creativity that came out of my first brainstorming session with Book IV was the most intense I've ever had. My hands were literally shaking. It was such an odd, yet wonderful experience that I still can't explain adequately. I went from a vague idea of what I wanted to do to knowing exactly what this book is in maybe two hours. Like, I felt certain scenes like I've never done before, especially at this stage. I get that way when I'm writing them sometimes, like last week's piano scene, but not when they occur to me. I can't say what I felt for obvious reasons, but I felt compelled to start writing all of it down right then. So, a bit of a head start already.
I don't know, it was just strange. Good, but strange, and I needed to get it out 'on paper' as it were. Thank you for indulging me.
A bit of a naff post this week, I know, but the run-up to the release of Hall of Mirrors starts next week; this is me doing my breathing exercises and stretching first.
The rush of creativity that came out of my first brainstorming session with Book IV was the most intense I've ever had. My hands were literally shaking. It was such an odd, yet wonderful experience that I still can't explain adequately. I went from a vague idea of what I wanted to do to knowing exactly what this book is in maybe two hours. Like, I felt certain scenes like I've never done before, especially at this stage. I get that way when I'm writing them sometimes, like last week's piano scene, but not when they occur to me. I can't say what I felt for obvious reasons, but I felt compelled to start writing all of it down right then. So, a bit of a head start already.
I don't know, it was just strange. Good, but strange, and I needed to get it out 'on paper' as it were. Thank you for indulging me.
A bit of a naff post this week, I know, but the run-up to the release of Hall of Mirrors starts next week; this is me doing my breathing exercises and stretching first.
January 31, 2019
Musical Interlude
In The Fires of Winter, there is a scene in which we find Victoria alone at a piano, morose and remembering how she used to play duets with her late mother. The piece she plays in that scene is Chopin's Nocturne No 20, and I wanted to share with you the specific version that I listened to while I was writing it, because to me, even after listening to it essentially on a loop until it was done, it is still devastatingly affecting. It features YuEun Kim on the violin, and Jiayi Shi on the piano, and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7k2p....
If you go back and read that scene with this playing, I hope you'll see why I still find it hard to think about without misting up a little. It is a crushingly sad moment for Victoria in that book, and I wanted you to hear what I heard as it was being written. That piece is now inextricably linked to Victoria's mental state in that moment for me now, and however that may sound to you, it is profound to me. Victoria doesn't really exist, but I can still call to mind her feelings, and to have something written so long ago performed by people I will never meet so perfectly encapsulate them is a kind of miracle.
Art can be funny that way. Or beautiful.
If you go back and read that scene with this playing, I hope you'll see why I still find it hard to think about without misting up a little. It is a crushingly sad moment for Victoria in that book, and I wanted you to hear what I heard as it was being written. That piece is now inextricably linked to Victoria's mental state in that moment for me now, and however that may sound to you, it is profound to me. Victoria doesn't really exist, but I can still call to mind her feelings, and to have something written so long ago performed by people I will never meet so perfectly encapsulate them is a kind of miracle.
Art can be funny that way. Or beautiful.
January 24, 2019
Status Update
I know you want news, and I really want to give it to you, but now I understand why other content creators are so cagey about announcements and such. There are relatively few moving parts to what I do, but there are just enough to make things uncertain to the point I don't know when exactly they'll be done.
So here's what's happening: Hall of Mirrors is almost done, but not completely. Feedback, final changes, the cover and more are being done simultaneously, but they all work on different time scales. I don't want to announce anything I can't stick to, so I haven't yet. It's close, though. I have a date in my head and on my calendar I'm shooting for, but I just can't share until I know I can hit it.
Paperbacks. I'm working on getting paperback versions of November and Fires ready, and want to launch Mirrors with one, as well. It's more complicated than I thought! (Fires is over 600 pages long printed out. I never even considered a physical version when I was writing it, but it turns out printing a doorstop on demand has its own complications. D'oh!) But that's going on, as well. I hope you are looking forward to them!
There are other behind-the-scenes things that also add up to me being busier than ever at this writing gig. I'm absolutely grateful and blessed to be able to do it, so this isn't an exercise in excuse-making. It's just all new to me, and I'm having to figure out a lot of it as I go. Going through it will make it a lot easier for next time, though!
I don't know if this post will be of interest, or lower/heighten your opinion of me, but I needed to get it all out, because I think I'm freaking out a little bit. I want my books to be as good as possible, but also have something to share with you all. I'm still finding the balance.
If I've ever complained about creators I like seemingly dragging their feet, or being coy about things, I'm sorry. I get it now.
I just want to keep you in the loop, but not feel like a tease, so the best I can do is be honest. And honestly, I'm excited to show you what's coming.
-Selene, Hall of Mirrors
So here's what's happening: Hall of Mirrors is almost done, but not completely. Feedback, final changes, the cover and more are being done simultaneously, but they all work on different time scales. I don't want to announce anything I can't stick to, so I haven't yet. It's close, though. I have a date in my head and on my calendar I'm shooting for, but I just can't share until I know I can hit it.
Paperbacks. I'm working on getting paperback versions of November and Fires ready, and want to launch Mirrors with one, as well. It's more complicated than I thought! (Fires is over 600 pages long printed out. I never even considered a physical version when I was writing it, but it turns out printing a doorstop on demand has its own complications. D'oh!) But that's going on, as well. I hope you are looking forward to them!
There are other behind-the-scenes things that also add up to me being busier than ever at this writing gig. I'm absolutely grateful and blessed to be able to do it, so this isn't an exercise in excuse-making. It's just all new to me, and I'm having to figure out a lot of it as I go. Going through it will make it a lot easier for next time, though!
I don't know if this post will be of interest, or lower/heighten your opinion of me, but I needed to get it all out, because I think I'm freaking out a little bit. I want my books to be as good as possible, but also have something to share with you all. I'm still finding the balance.
If I've ever complained about creators I like seemingly dragging their feet, or being coy about things, I'm sorry. I get it now.
I just want to keep you in the loop, but not feel like a tease, so the best I can do is be honest. And honestly, I'm excited to show you what's coming.
...
"... don't shut yourself out from today in fear of tomorrow. The only thing worse than growing old with nothing but memories is growing old with nothing at all."-Selene, Hall of Mirrors
January 17, 2019
Theme (and a Little Bit About Hall of Mirrors)
Theme is something that gets talked about a lot in writing circles, but it's honestly something I never gave a lot of thought to before. It was something that evolved over the course of writing the story, or that you found after you were done.
But as I mature in my writing, I'm giving it more and more thought, and coming to agree with the idea that the answer to the question 'what is your story about?' should be the same as 'what is the theme?'. The theme is what the story's about. The plot is just what happens.
You've heard of the 'elevator pitch?' Boiling down your story to a single sentence? Well, now I also strive to make the themes of my books strong enough to be distilled down to a single word. That's the goal, and for the first time in anything that I've written, that's where I started from with Hall of Mirrors.
If Remember, November is about identity, and The Fires of Winter is about truth, then Hall of Mirrors is about consequences. If that sounds ominous, well, [SPOILERS REDACTED]. There are, of course, myriad sub-themes throughout my books, but as far as a pure distillation, that's how I interpret it. You may disagree, or see things in them that I don't, and that's great. That's the beauty of art, innit?
But for something so nebulous as 'theme' to go from an afterthought to very much a forethought is an interesting transition to me, mentally. Maybe it's because I've gotten to know these characters so well, they write their own stories now, and when I write something else, that may not be the case, I don't know. But the thread that connects everything I write is character, and the relationships between the characters. It all stems from that; without them, there is no story.
I am very excited and anxious to share Mirrors with you, and I will have news regarding release date and whatnot once I get a few more things nailed down, but it is coming, rest assured.
"When will then be now?"
"Soon."
"How soon?"*
I will let you know as soon as I know, promise.
But as I mature in my writing, I'm giving it more and more thought, and coming to agree with the idea that the answer to the question 'what is your story about?' should be the same as 'what is the theme?'. The theme is what the story's about. The plot is just what happens.
You've heard of the 'elevator pitch?' Boiling down your story to a single sentence? Well, now I also strive to make the themes of my books strong enough to be distilled down to a single word. That's the goal, and for the first time in anything that I've written, that's where I started from with Hall of Mirrors.
If Remember, November is about identity, and The Fires of Winter is about truth, then Hall of Mirrors is about consequences. If that sounds ominous, well, [SPOILERS REDACTED]. There are, of course, myriad sub-themes throughout my books, but as far as a pure distillation, that's how I interpret it. You may disagree, or see things in them that I don't, and that's great. That's the beauty of art, innit?
But for something so nebulous as 'theme' to go from an afterthought to very much a forethought is an interesting transition to me, mentally. Maybe it's because I've gotten to know these characters so well, they write their own stories now, and when I write something else, that may not be the case, I don't know. But the thread that connects everything I write is character, and the relationships between the characters. It all stems from that; without them, there is no story.
I am very excited and anxious to share Mirrors with you, and I will have news regarding release date and whatnot once I get a few more things nailed down, but it is coming, rest assured.
"When will then be now?"
"Soon."
"How soon?"*
I will let you know as soon as I know, promise.
...
*From Spaceballs: The MovieJanuary 10, 2019
The Patient is Healthy
It's always harrowing getting your first feedback for a new project. I never know what to expect, because my opinion of my work immediately goes in the toilet the instant I hit send. Usually, the things that keep me up at night while it's out in the wild never come up, but it's interesting how my thinking changes so quickly. How much more critical I become once it's too late. You really are your own worst critic, and I am no exception. I, in fact, embody that saying much of the time.
But, the feedback I have gotten was very valuable, and I am happy to say that Hall of Mirrors has passed its first test, and is now on the path of revisions and tweaks, rather than wholesale rewrites.
Hall of Mirrors is my third novel, and I should be growing more confident in my writing, and I suppose I have in some ways, but exposing my work to others for the first time is still nerve-wracking. It wouldn't be as good as it is if I didn't, however, and that's why I continue to do it.
Perspective is something you can't learn or train yourself to do, so you can't be too precious about what you send out. If something doesn't work, it doesn't work, and you have to be willing to change it. But if it does, you have to allow yourself some pride in that fact.
In Hall of Mirrors, there is plenty of both at the moment, so it's time to dive back in.
But, the feedback I have gotten was very valuable, and I am happy to say that Hall of Mirrors has passed its first test, and is now on the path of revisions and tweaks, rather than wholesale rewrites.
Hall of Mirrors is my third novel, and I should be growing more confident in my writing, and I suppose I have in some ways, but exposing my work to others for the first time is still nerve-wracking. It wouldn't be as good as it is if I didn't, however, and that's why I continue to do it.
Perspective is something you can't learn or train yourself to do, so you can't be too precious about what you send out. If something doesn't work, it doesn't work, and you have to be willing to change it. But if it does, you have to allow yourself some pride in that fact.
In Hall of Mirrors, there is plenty of both at the moment, so it's time to dive back in.
January 4, 2019
2019
Wow, it's 2019 already. It happened so fast I forgot what day it was, and didn't post yesterday. Sorry. So, a belated Happy New Year!
In 2018 I published two novels, and the plan for this year is to do the same. Hall of Mirrors is still on track for late winter/early spring, and that's all I can think about without my brain melting. Book IV (already!) will be... after that.
There are other projects on the burners (the back ones that only work part of the time), but I can't say anything about them because they're still quite nascent. They exist, though! The Ashes series is my life now, and will be until it's done, but if you're wondering if I have other things planned, the answer is yes.
I hope 2019 can be a breakout year, with two more entries in the Ashes series and who knows what else! If you'd like to help me out to that end, please share my work and leave a review if you can. It goes a long way to supporting me and other indie authors, giving us some measure of visibility when it can be very difficult to be seen.
I am grateful to each and every one of you, and I will do my utmost to live up to the expectations I've set with the first two books. There's much more to come! I hope you're as excited as I am to experience it.
In Japanese, around this time, people who know each other will say 'kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu,' which basically translates to 'Let's do our best together this year, too.'
So to you, I say: kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
In 2018 I published two novels, and the plan for this year is to do the same. Hall of Mirrors is still on track for late winter/early spring, and that's all I can think about without my brain melting. Book IV (already!) will be... after that.
There are other projects on the burners (the back ones that only work part of the time), but I can't say anything about them because they're still quite nascent. They exist, though! The Ashes series is my life now, and will be until it's done, but if you're wondering if I have other things planned, the answer is yes.
I hope 2019 can be a breakout year, with two more entries in the Ashes series and who knows what else! If you'd like to help me out to that end, please share my work and leave a review if you can. It goes a long way to supporting me and other indie authors, giving us some measure of visibility when it can be very difficult to be seen.
I am grateful to each and every one of you, and I will do my utmost to live up to the expectations I've set with the first two books. There's much more to come! I hope you're as excited as I am to experience it.
In Japanese, around this time, people who know each other will say 'kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu,' which basically translates to 'Let's do our best together this year, too.'
So to you, I say: kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
December 27, 2018
Thank You 2018
Okay, I know I said no post this week, but I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you to all of you.
I published my first two novels this year, and it's still hard to believe. That people have read them at all even more so. It's very hard for indie authors, especially new ones, to attract attention, so those of you who took a chance on this one this year, thank you so much. I hope you have enjoyed your time in the little world I'm building, and in the heads of my characters. Hall of Mirrors is coming, so I hope you are looking forward to more.
To my family and friends, who have been so supportive of me, thank you, as well. None of this happens without you, and I appreciate each and every one of you.
I remember someone saying that being an author is lonely, but you can't do it alone. It's very true, and I'm only as good as my support allows me to be, and whether I know you personally, or if you're an internet stranger who found me and have helped get the word out, know that you're part of it.
I'm very grateful I get to share my stories with you.
Talk to you next year.
I published my first two novels this year, and it's still hard to believe. That people have read them at all even more so. It's very hard for indie authors, especially new ones, to attract attention, so those of you who took a chance on this one this year, thank you so much. I hope you have enjoyed your time in the little world I'm building, and in the heads of my characters. Hall of Mirrors is coming, so I hope you are looking forward to more.
To my family and friends, who have been so supportive of me, thank you, as well. None of this happens without you, and I appreciate each and every one of you.
I remember someone saying that being an author is lonely, but you can't do it alone. It's very true, and I'm only as good as my support allows me to be, and whether I know you personally, or if you're an internet stranger who found me and have helped get the word out, know that you're part of it.
I'm very grateful I get to share my stories with you.
Talk to you next year.
December 20, 2018
Cut it!
The more I write, the more I get comfortable with cutting stuff. It actually feels kinda good now, which is weird. It's the decision to cut that weighs on me, but once it's done, I feel better. This has happened in all three novels so far, so you'd think I would be more used to it by now. But I always hem and haw about doing it, remembering how much work it took to write it in the first place. Then I put on my editor's hat and see that no, it needs to go.
One thing I've noticed is that the answer to the question 'Do I really need this?' is almost always 'no.' No I don't. I've killed many a darling this year, and I'm happy with that. The work is stronger for their absence.
One thing I've noticed is that the answer to the question 'Do I really need this?' is almost always 'no.' No I don't. I've killed many a darling this year, and I'm happy with that. The work is stronger for their absence.
...
No post next week, so I hope you all have a lovely holiday season, and I will talk to you again in 2019.
